In Compromising Condition
by shad12ow
Summary: Awaken in a strange unknown building, he looked to the window and found that he is in the city of Akiba where the powerful existence called "Adventurer" roamed the street. But unknown to him, he is one of them now.
1. Chapter 1 - Mismatch Memories

**Disclaimer: Log Horizon, all of its characters, musics, and stories belongs to their own respective owner. In this case, is written by Mamare Touno, illustrated by Kazuhiro Hara and published by Enterbrain. The only things I own here is the OC named Drest. This fanfict may or may not be canon. Besides that, I've got nothing else to say. So with that, please take a seat, grab your drink, pick your snack, and have a pleasant ride (or read).  
**

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**[Episode I : Meeting with The Adventurers]**

**Chapter 1 "Mismatch Memories"**

Waking up, the first thing the man saw was the moss covered ceiling. He moved his head a bit to the left and then to the right, trying to confirm the condition of his own body. After making sure nothing was out of place, he slowly lifted his body into a sitting position.

He rubbed the back of his head. As his glove covered hand caressed his thick black hair, he tried to remember something.

(...How did I get here?)

As he pondered that, he looked around his surroundings. The place seemed to be abandoned decades ago judging from the condition of the floor, furniture, roof, and wall. Vines sprouted from the cracked wall and covered the turned over and broken furniture inside the room. The sunlight came from the hole on the top part of the wall. The window beside it failed to do its function due to the number of leaves and moss covering the window, thus making the hole on the wall as a primary source of illumination in the room.

"…Ugh, my head," he said while rubbing the back of his head again. A small bump was there, evidence that one way or another he bumped his head not long ago.

He stood up slowly, avoiding any chance of hurting himself more than he already had. While dusting his clothes, he noticed something strange.

"…What's this?"

In front of him, floating words appeared. A few translucent windows showing a variety of stuff was hanging in front of him. He turned around with the intention of trying to look at the windows in a different position. To his surprise, the windows followed him and stayed in front him. Giving up that idea, he started to read the windows.

A lot of stuff was really cramped there. But the first thing that he noticed was the part on the upper right.

"I-Is that..me?"

He said as he saw the image on the left part of the window. It was a portrait of him from the bust up wearing a neutral expression. Next to it was a symbol consisted of a pair of identical cutlass crossing each other. Still confused at what's happening, he read the words next to the portrait.

"Drest. Race/ Human. Swashbuckler, Lv. 90."

Under those words, two bars were visible. The top bar, which had the gradient color from bright yellow to dark green, had the word 'HP' on it and the numbers '10225/10225'. The bottom bar, which had the gradient color from dark purple to dark blue, had the word 'MP' on it and the numbers '10125/10125'.

"…What the? Is that supposed to be me?" He said as he looked to the word 'Drest' next to the image of him.

"Is that supposed to be my name? But my name is–AARRGGHHH!"

But before he could finish his sentence, a painful shock invaded his head. He clutched it in his pain. The pain was so much that he was forced to kneel.

After a while, the pain subdued little by little. The pain was so much, that he was forced to gasp for air.

"W-What was that? I was just remembering my nam–AAAARRGGGHHH!"

The same pain struck him again, forcing him once again to clutch his head in pain. This time, the pain went a bit longer, making him suffered much more than he expected.

After a few excruciating second that felt like years for him, the pain finally subsided, the black haired man breathed over and over with raging breath. Wiping his saliva from the edge of his mouth, he concluded his condition.

"No more name recalling, ever!" He shouted to no one in particular.

With no memory of anything, he surveyed the whole empty room for any clue that might be useful. And in split second, he found it.

"Huh? What's this?"

He picked up the object. It was a rugged looking book. The cover was made from leather that looked worn out from repeated use over the times.

He looked at the front cover but fail to find any writing that indicated the book's title.

Curious at the content of the old book, he flipped it open.

"W-What the!?"

The book glowed brightly, blinding him. He let go of the book. But instead of falling into the cracked floor below, the book stayed afloat in front of him. The pages flipped open with incredible speed that he could feel wind was created through that.

Strangely, no intention of leaving appeared inside his mind. It was as if he was meant to be there at that moment.

(What's going here!?)

Although confused at the sudden turn of event, he tried to keep what he thought inside his own mind.

A few seconds later, the pages stopped flipping. Still feeling wary at the possibility of danger from the floating object, the man stood in his place without making any movement.

The book then glowed brightly, blinding him.

"ARGH! What-AAAARRRGGGHHHH! NOT AGAIN!"

He screamed not because of the blinding light, but because of the same searing pain, for the third time, invaded his head.

This time, there was a difference. The difference was that while there was pain, he was seeing and hearing a lot of things.

Places he never been on his life. People he never meet. Language he never heard. Clothes he never saw.

Those things moving at a blinding speed inside his own mind, confusing him and dizzying him.

_"….Don't forget….mission…The…..last one…."_

(Huh?)

That one sentence felt different than the other things. It sounded familiar, but somehow also felt foreign.

With a sizzling sound, the book ceased to glow. Just like the glowing, the pain stopped attacking him and the wave of foreign information stopped moving inside his head. But the effect of the pain made him unable to sit properly, let alone stand up. He just stayed still with both of his hands and legs on the ground, panting and trying his best to keep his saliva from pouring onto the floor. Seconds became minutes, but he was still unable to do anything else except keeping his mind checked and holding his consciousness.

He tried to focus his mind as best as he could do, but the stream of information from before had made it much more difficult that he expected. But he knew that he needed to stay conscious. He didn't know why, but he just knew.

"…Urgh…"

With a groan, he finally able to relaxed his body. Although inside his head there was still ringing and spinning happening around, he finally managed to bring it down to a level that will not force him to faint.

But the moment he tried to put strength to his legs, his knee gave out and he fell again. The only thing he could do was to rolled over to his backside, making his view once again the moss covered ceiling.

Shifted into a more comfortable position than before, he man tried to recall back what happened while avoiding trying to remembering his previous name. He resigned to his fate, thus accepting the name 'Drest' as his for now.

Blinking rapidly, trying to gain view from his cloudy eyes due to the previous torrent of pain, he explore the translucent windows while regaining his power.

He read each of the available windows very slowly, finding the task was much harder than he expected. Drest tried moving his finger into one of the word and found that it react to that simple gesture. Another window opened. Inside it was another set of foreign information.

He found information about his self, from his strength, to his dexterity, to his vitality, to his luck. How they were gauge was a mystery of their own for him.

He then moved on to another window. This time, it contained the description and explanation for his gear.

His weapon which was consisted of a twin dirk called 'Monochrome Shine Dirk' that had a rather high damage point and speed point.

The clothes he was wearing also had a name. It was called 'Silent Verdant Trench Coat'. It was a very unique item that had the ability to conceal any of the sound the wearer made and the wearer's voice completely, in this case the sound he made and his voice.

And there was also something that piques his interest, a ring that was put into the so called 'Accessory Slot' with the name 'Fools Ring'. The accessory in question was said to be able to fool everyone around the wearer and make the wearer to be ignored or hardly recognizable. As he read that, he lifted his other hand. And just as the window stated, his eyes quickly laid upon the ring in question. It looked very ordinary indeed. Just a simple golden ring that had the color of white, purple, and green. He could only looked at the object with confusion, unknown whether to accept the fact that a simple object like this could have such a tremendous ability or rejecting the fact altogether.

Even if the ring confused him, there was another thing that confused him more. It was the fact that for some reason, he understood what those terms meant.

"…The book," said the lying man while remembering a certain book that gave him that agonizing time.

He looked to his side and found the book. It was just an arm reach away from his head.

(The book will probably give me an answer….I hope.)

But before he could reach onto the book, the book started to crack. And seconds later, it turned into dust that carried away by the passing wind. Drest could only look at the scene without even changing his expression. In the back of his mind, he knew something like that would just too good to be true. But the other part still resulted in a very disappointing feeling that one of the way– he hoped it will not be the only way– was gone.

With another heavy grunt, he tried to move into a sitting positing. Still unable to do anything serious, Drest just tried to regain his breath. As he did that, he realized that the window had disappeared all of a sudden, clearing the view in front of him. He still didn't understand what that was.

From the outside, he could hear a lot of commotion, like a lot of people yelling and shouting. No, rather than a human being, the sound was more like the cry of agitated beasts. Feeling curios about the situation, he tried to stand up. This simple act was much harder than he expected at first. But after a few minutes of slow process, he finally able to stood up.

He moved closer to the vine covered window. Pulling the vine apart slightly, he was given a view of his surroundings.

It was a place filled with many unknown building shaped in a foreign architecture. It seemed he was in one of those strange buildings as he could see the situation from a higher level of view. As he peeked through the window, a single word escaped his mouth with a shallow breath.

"…Akiba…"


	2. Chapter 2 - Life Changing Story

**Disclaimer: Log Horizon, all of its characters, musics, and stories belongs to their own respective owner. In this case, is written by Mamare Touno, illustrated by Kazuhiro Hara and published by Enterbrain. The only things I own here is the OC named Drest. This fanfict may or may not be canon. Besides that, I've got nothing else to say. So with that, please take a seat, grab your drink, pick your snack, and have a pleasant ride (or read).  
**

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**Chapter 2 "Life Changing Story"**

Hearing that particular name came out of his own mouth, anxiety and fear struck him immediately. His mouth opened wide due to his shock of being in a such infamous place for the People of The land.

"W-Why am I…"

But before he could say anything more, he stopped and shut his mouth tightly.

The reason was because he heard another person's voice from near him.

With all of his strength, he limply walked to the nearest edge of the room which was covered by darkness. Unable to do anything more, he just slumped down into a sitting position with his back against the wall.

As soon as he slumped down, he heard sound of footsteps getting closer to his place.

"..I-Is anyone…there?"

(A girl's voice?)

Although feeling that he should answer that, he kept silence, waiting what happened next. He was, after all, in a city filled with powerful adventurer.

After a few seconds that felt like hours, a figure peeked into the dimmed and empty room. It was, just as he expected, a girl. Judging from the height and the face, she was probably a few years younger from him.

The girl, wearing a worried and nervous expression on her face, walked into the room carefully. Her dark brown hair, which was fashioned into a short ponytail, was something that caught Drest's attention at first. Inside his mind, he thought that it made her looked neat and quite pretty. The next thing that caught his attention is her clothes. The clothes seemed to be a fashioned to be similar to a diviner's uniform. The tall collar that hid her neck and also the unattached sleeves were the main difference.

With each step she made, her shoes made a soft thumping sound. With each passing seconds, she was getting closer where Drest sat.

Holding his breath, he could only look at the girl, waiting for her reaction. Even if he knew his level was high, the fact that this girl might be an adventurer worried him.

With each passing seconds, Drest sat there with his shallow breath, waiting for the next action the girl would take.

The girl's hooded dark blue eyes looked around the room, scanning everything inside the room, looking for any sign of presence inside it.

She walked forward, getting ever closer to Drest, but her eyes never seemed to catch him in her sight. It was as if he was never existed in the first place.

"…Is it just my imagination?" muttered the girl quietly.

Hearing that his presence was denied, while she was in fact standing two steps away from him, made him confused beyond his mind. Was she blind or something?

No, that couldn't be. She was looking around the room normally.

So, why? That question assaulted his mind.

"…I'm sure there was someone here," she looked around with her dark blue eyes while clutching her chest tightly. A sign of worry and anxiety were visible on her face.

(So adventurer like her could show that kind of face too?)

The girl, still with expression of worried and anxious, looked around the place once more. Although already knew that he would not be found out, Drest still felt cold sweat dripping on his forehead whenever the girl's gaze passed through his place.

But after a second time, the same things happened again. The ponytail hair girl had yet again failed to recognize him. Seeing that she have reacted the same way made Drest felt a bit of relieved. He unconsciously let out a breath due to his sudden relieve. This action of his made the girl jumped and turned toward him.

"W-Who's there!?" shouted the girl in a loud voice while backing away in fear.

Drest straighten his back again and fear assaulted his mind. He almost let out a sound of surprise but managed to cover his mouth to block his own voice.

"W-Who's t-there!?" shouted the girl again with the same stuttering voice. Her shoulder was trembling slightly, evidence of her fear and surprise due to Drest's sudden voice.

Minutes passed as each of them stayed in silent. Drest waited for the girl to react, fearing that the girl would found out about him. The girl looked around in panic, not knowing the source of the voice from before.

The two of them refused to budge in the game of silence. The thing that broke the silence was a new addition of voice that came from the outside of the room.

"Hisako! Where are you?"

"Kyouko!"

At another girl's voice, Drest became much more worried. If the newcomer was also an adventurer, which was very likely, then the danger he would face would be doubled. The urge to run away was almost enough to make him do just that, but he tried his best to calm himself down and wait for the best moment to do anything.

"Oh, you're here?" A voice came from the outside of the room. Sound of metal thumping softly on the ground was getting closer.

After a while, the owner of the voice appeared. In contrast to the first girl, which was called Hisako, that emitted a shy and timid person, the newcomer looked to be a very cheerful and outgoing person. Her outfit, which consisted of a full suit of armor, covered her from neck to toe, only leaving her face visible. A simple yellow pleated scarf that was worn over her neck was the only thing that looked different from her suit of armor.

"What are you doing here, Hisako?" said the taller brunet to her friend.

"I was just looking…I heard voice from here," replied the other one. When her friend came, she looked to be a lot calmer than before as her shoulders stopped trembling.

"V-Voice? So there was someone here besides us?"

"Uhm…I don't know. The moment I entered the room, I found no one here."

"Ah…I see." The two of them looked to be a bit disappointed.

Then the armor wearing girl looked to the window, the same window that Drest just looked through moments ago.

"Hey, we're not dreaming, right?"

"…I guess not, Kyouko."

"I see..." Kyouko let out a long and heavy sigh, then she continued. "So we're really in Elder Tale, eh?"

The girl called Hisako nodded with a depressed face.

(Elder Tale?)

"Then,…what now? Can't believe that we're inside a game, you know?"

(A game?)

"I know. I was just in front of the PC while waiting for the download of the new patch finished."

(PC? Download? New Patch?)

A list of foreign phrase and word was uttered by the two female adventurers in front of him, making him questioned the existence of the adventurer in this world much more than before.

"…Kyouko," Hisako looked at her friend with a worried look, "what's going to h-happen to us?"

Hearing that question, Kyouko's expression darkened slightly.

Seeing that her question put her friend's mood dropped, Hisako felt the same way.

"…don't worry." A sentence escaped Kyouko's mouth, barely audible to anyone except herself.

All of a sudden a hard impact sound was heard inside the room, surprising both Drest and Hisako.

It was from Kyouko's hand that hit her cheeks.

"Ow!" shouted the girl who slapped her own cheeks. It seemed she slapped her own cheeks a bit too hard. "Well, at least I know this isn't a dream," said the girl with a joking tone.

"Eh?"

"Cheer up!" Kyouko said while putting one hand on her friend's shoulder.

"…Kyouko?" Still confused, Hisako could only look at her friend with a rather blank look.

"We'll think of something!" Her words were delivered with a tone full of confidence.

"B-but–"

"Hisako, we are not alone!" She encouraged her further. "We have our guild friends, right?"

"…The guild." Hearing those words somehow put a little more light to the smaller girl's eyes.

"Yes, we'll think of something. Together! With our friend! With Master Soujirou!"

Hearing a familiar name, Drest couldn't help but raised his brow while still hiding himself.

(Soujirou? As in "Sword Saint" Soujirou Seta? That "Sword Saint" Soujirou Seta?)

It was a name very familiar and famous to him.

He was one of the personnel in the legendary group "Debauchery Tea Party", the vanguard and fierce fighter known as "Sword Saint" Soujirou Seta. His fighting skill, which utilized eastern type blade was viewed as one of the most dangerous and yet beautiful swordplay in the world.

Swift, elegant, and deadly. Those three words were the words that flashed inside Drest's mind when he heard that name from the female adventurer.

"Yes! We'll work together!" It seemed her friend's effort paid off as Hisako's face brightened up.

Seeing that, Kyouko flashed a wide smile at her friend who now has regained her usual self, although she still looked a bit down.

Watching the scene that just happened with the two female adventurers in front of him, the imaginary cogs inside Drest's mind turned and turned, trying to processed many information.

Starting from their story of how they came to this world. It was very strange and very unimaginable for him with all of his limited knowledge about the adventurer. With the added foreign and unheard term, their origin became much more complicated.

The next thing was their similarity with the People of The Land. At first, the adventurer looked to be such a godly and invincible creature. They are unbeatable and immortal. The moment they died, they will revive and able to fight in matter of seconds. But after his recent observation with the two female adventurers, they looked…so fragile. Normal.

They've just showed him that they could feel despair, fear, and happiness. Their expression was not faked. They were all real. They were the same.

So are they one of the People of The Land too?

But before he could come to any conclusion, another thing happened.

His vision went wavy and unclear.

No, it was not the pain from before.

"W-W-hat was that!?" Hisako screamed.

The reason was because a sudden tremor shook the place.

It could have been an earthquake. But another possibility came into Drest mind.

As he looked at the two adventurers in front of him, it seemed that they have also realized it.

The two of them panicked but he managed to keep his voice, avoiding being detected by the other two.

"I-I don't know. Let's just get out of here!" Kyouko quickly grabbed Hisako's hand and dragged her outside the room.

"W-Wait, Kyouko!" Her scream was heard from the hallway.

After deciding that the two have went quite a significant distance, Drest slowly moved out of his hiding place.

As he used the wall to help him stand up, he noticed that the wall itself looked rather unstable. The crack on the wall was widened the moment he put his body weight on his hand which touched the wall. It seemed the idea of the building collapsing was not too strange. In fact, the chance of it happening was too high that inside Drest's mind he was already preparing the plan to get out the building.

He needed to get away quickly, but he also needed to keep in mind the fact that his body was still not functioning properly. The effort to keep his mind focused was too much, let alone escapes the building.

Besides, where would he go? As People of The Land trapped inside the city which was teaming with adventurer, his only option was to exit the city altogether, which was not an easy task to do.

"..I got…to get away."

He muttered under his breath, trying to encourage himself.

Feeling slightly more motivated, he proceed to walk to the door.

He struggled to exit the room, but he steeled himself while thinking that he needed to move and get out the building.

After exiting the room, he looked to the hallway. He must choose the path he will take to the exit. For now, he has to avoid meeting with the two of them. Not that they are proven hostile, but it is safer to assume that for his own safety. He then turned to his left, hoping that the two chose the other route, and then started walking.

His progress was slow and instead of walking, he was looking more like swaying from one foot to another.

"…Am…I…wounded?" That was the sentence that came out of his mouth, trying to find out why was he so weak.

While thinking like that, the former window reappeared in front of him, showing his status. The number '10225/10225' showed that he was in perfect condition. But he didn't know why but his body still felt weak. It was as if he was being pulled down and his energy being sucked out of his body.

No, that's not right. That would mean that his 'MP' was drained. But even the MP bar was still full.

"W-Woagh!" He shouted as he tripped due to the uneven floor. Thankfully he managed to balance himself out and resumed his pace, this time with much more careful steps.

"Blocked!? Just our luck!"

A shout resounded on the hallway. Drest immediately look for a hiding spot instinctively. He leapt to a nearby spot that was hidden by a fallen pillar.

Drest took held his breath as he saw the one responsible for the previous shout.

"Maybe there is a gap we can get through?" It was the girl from before.

It seemed that he accidentally picked the route that the two girls chose. Now all he could do was to remain hidden and look for the right moment to escape yet again.


	3. Chapter 3 - Unstable Terrain

**Disclaimer: Log Horizon, all of its characters, musics, and stories belongs to their own respective owner. In this case, is written by Mamare Touno, illustrated by Kazuhiro Hara and published by Enterbrain. The only things I own here is the OC named Drest. This fanfict may or may not be canon. Besides that, I've got nothing else to say. So with that, please take a seat, grab your drink, pick your snack, and have a pleasant ride (or read).  
**

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**Chapter 3 "Unstable Terrain"**

Waiting behind the gap made by the fallen pillar, Drest steadied his breathing to calm his ragging heartbeat. For all the luck, he had to choose the route the two girls took. Drest cursed his luck under his breath, but tried to remain positive. Maybe there was a chance that the two of them could lead him to the exit.

"A gap between the rubble?" asked the taller girl.

"Yes," said Hisako with a nod. "I remember that this building has only one stair to move between floors.

"And you saw the stair?"

"Uhm, no."

"Then what made you so sure this is the right way?" asked the other girl.

"That," said the shorter one while pointing her finger to a certain spot on the wall near them.

Both Drest and Kyouko followed her finger and found a small board that had a drawing on it. Drest could only barely see that because he was a bit too far from their location.

"What about it? That is just a–"

"An exit sign." Cut Hisako while still pointing to the sign.

"Huh? An exit sign?" Drest said softly, not understanding what they were talking about. And from his place he could recognize the same confusion on Kyouko's face.

"Look closely," said Hisako her friend, "there's the word 'EXIT' and the image of a stair on it."

"Really?" Kyouko squinted her eyes to look at the sign near her. Then her expression changed and said "Ah, you're right, Hisako! Nice work!"

Since Drest couldn't see what's happening, he just hoped that they really did find the exit. If not, the three of them are in danger of being buried in the unstable building.

He waited for the two of them to do something while still in hiding.

"So what now? Look for a gap in the rubble?" said Kyouko while tapping on the rubble blocking the hallway.

"Uhm, yes…I suppose."

"Hey, why so unsure all of a sudden?" Kyouko questioned her since she suddenly lost all the confidence from before.

"You see, I'm not so sure that there is a gap there."

"Huh? Oh come on!" The taller girl looked at the other while she placed her hands on her hip, demanding the other a reason for her previous comment.

"S-Sorry, but after thinking about it, I would prefer not to endanger the two of us because we moved something in this unstable place." Hisako replied with a lower voice than before.

"Move something in this–Oh, yeah, I got it." Kyouko's expression changed to a face which showed she understood her reason. "But then, what now? Look back into the other way?"

"As time consuming as that is, I think that is the best choice for now." She touched her chin and then continued, "I guess we can use the stair from the other floor too. If the stair is still usable that is."

"Well, what are waiting for? Let's move on!" shouted the taller girl while quickly dragging the other one like before.

"W-Wait! Kyouko!" And just like before, she was dragged by her friend into the other part of the hallway.

After the two exited the scene altogether with a very loud thumping sound courtesy of Kyouko's heavy armor, Drest exited his hiding place.

He then looked around, making sure that the other two really was gone. After that, he slowly moved to the spot where the two adventurers were standing minutes ago.

He then looked around the place, trying to locate the sign Hisako mentioned.

The sign, which was already in a very bad condition, had just the word he was looking for. But he remembered the reason that made the other turned back.

And just as they said before, the moment he turned to the far end of the hallway, a collection of rubble blocked the way completely.

He moved closer to the rubble, trying to examine it. He sighed when he noticed that there was no wind around the rubble, meaning that the rubble did not have any gap.

With that, he once again thought of the option he had. First, is to follow the two of them, which he quickly discarded. The second one is to remove the obstacle in front of him.

But in his current condition, that would not be a possible option. Thus leaving him with the first option.

"What a mess this is." He complained to no one in particular.

He turned around to follow the two adventurers. But he then he noticed something near the rubble.

It was a long object made from metal. A pipe, rusted and bent. The pipe lodged itself onto the rubble. On top of it was piled stone and many debris.

He examined the pipe again and realized that he could use it to maybe weaken the rubble. If the pipe was pulled out or moved slightly, the unstable pile of debris on top of it might tumble down and make a gap wide enough for him to pass through. But he had to do it carefully because, just as Hisako said, if he did it recklessly he might endanger the whole building collapsing.

Before he moved, he thought of the risk of this plan of his. It took him only a matter of seconds to quickly realize that he has too many risks in this plan of his. But if this plan succeeded, he might have a chance to get away from the adventurer in a short time. Although he didn't have anything more planned for now, he just has to make do with anything that comes up later.

He slowly approached the pipe. There was no space around it at all. It was lodged tightly into the pile of debris.

Seeing that the task will not be any easier if he wait any longer, he grabbed the pipe. He pulled it with all of his strength.

"Ugh! Come on!"

But there was no change. The pipe refused to budge.

He then chose another option. He placed his back against the wall of debris where the pipe was lodged into and then pulled it with all of his strength.

"Argh!"

But the result stayed. The pipe yet again refused to budge.

With that, his option of moving it to let the debris tumble down to the other side was removed. The next thing he could do was to push it down, making the debris fell down to his side.

Unlike the previous plan, this plan was a bit more dangerous. If he failed to get away, then he might be crushed by the falling debris.

He then looked around for something that could be used as a weight. He found nothing.

At that, he sighed.

"I guess I have to do it manually."

Drest put his grip on the pipe and then put his weight to the pipe. He had to be careful or risking the pipe bent down, or even snapped because of him.

"S-Slowly, slowly," he muttered under his breath while pushing the pipe.

At first, nothing happened. Drest then put more power into it.

He pushed down the pipe again. And this time a few stones started to rolled down. He quickly took a distance to avoid any danger.

After a while, the stone stopped rolling down, a sign that Drest saw as a good start.

He went back to the pipe, this time putting a much stronger force into it.

After a while, another stone rolled down. He did the same again, taking a few steps away from the pipe in a hurry.

Minutes past and it was starting to show some progress. With the last stone stopped rolling down, a gap started to show. It was a result Drest quite happy to see.

With the possibility of escaping the building in front of him, he felt quite pumped up.

Resuming the work again, he realized that this time, he needed to be much more careful than before because the wall looked ready to collapse if moved forcefully.

And with that in mind, he pushed the pipe while taking a look at the wall in front of him.

"Ugh, this is getting heavier."

At a certain point, the pipe refused to move any more.

"Something blocked it on the other side?" questioned Drest while taking a short break.

Not having any way of knowing that, he opted to keep trying.

After a few minutes of pushing, he heard a sound came from the other side of the wall. He didn't know that that was, but the change was happening on his side. The pipe became much easier to move.

"Good," muttered Drest, hoping that whatever happening on the other side of the wall was not something that would hinder his plan.

While resuming his task, the image of the two adventurers flashed in his mind.

(Did they found the exit, I wonder?)

He then felt a small stone fell on his back. With that, he was reminded to keep his concentration at the task at hand. He shook his head to regain his focus and then pushed the pipe once again.

With each passing seconds, he could feel that the pipe became lose. Reminding himself again that he should still be careful in case the whole wall collapse, he pushed the pipe with a much more weight than before.

Pushing the pipe much stronger than before, he felt his vision became wavy again.

He also felt a big trembling around the floor. As he fell on to his knees, he knew that another earthquake happened. This was a sign that showed him that he needed to get away from the building as soon as possible.

Feeling that the quakes had finished, he quickly resumed his task of pushing the pipe. This time, he poured all of his power into the pipe.

"Ugh, come on!" He shouted while pushing with all his might.

A cracking sound was made, which made Drest looked up to the wall.

Crack started to appear beside the point where the pipe was lodged into.

"This is not good," he said softly.

But just he prepared to move away, his hand slipped and he fell forward with his body hitting the pipe, making the pipe pushed up.

"Oow, ow."

Feeling the pain from the fall, he rubbed his chin which hit first. He then realized what happened and quickly looked up. The crack ran in a much more rapid pace due to the pipe being pushed forcefully.

"Kyouko, hurry up!"

The familiar voice startled him as he looked back to the opposite direction of the hallway. With worry of the adventurers finding him, he forgot momentarily that he was in danger.

What snapped him back to that fact was the sound of rumbling that had become much louder. He turned around to face the wall again.

The scene in front of him was so horrifying that he forgot to move away.

What came after that was the image of the wall collapsing toward him who was lying on the cracked floor.

"…Oh no," he muttered before complete darkness filled his sight.


	4. Chapter 4 - Peculiar Guild

**Disclaimer: Log Horizon, all of its characters, musics, and stories belongs to their own respective owner. In this case, is written by Mamare Touno, illustrated by Kazuhiro Hara and published by Enterbrain. The only things I own here is the OC named Drest. This fanfict may or may not be canon. Besides that, I've got nothing else to say. So with that, please take a seat, grab your drink, pick your snack, and have a pleasant ride (or read).  
**

* * *

**Chapter 4 "Peculiar Guild"**

_"*****, you are the one chosen to go."_

_"Don't fail us, *****!"_

_"Please be safe, *****."_

_"*****, your mission is–"_

* * *

"WOAHH!" A shout came into the room.

The room itself, decorated with a few ornamental hanging scrolls with Japanese letters, was not so spacious. The tatami floor together with the decoration on the room made the room emanates a very oriental atmosphere.

On the middle of it, the man that shouted a few moments earlier got up from the futon he was lying moments ago. He looked around him to found not a single person there.

"…W-Where am I?" he asked to no one in particular, although hoping that someone could give him an answer.

He looked around the place again, but confident that he was never been in this kind of room before.

"What happ–Ugh!"

Before he could say anything more, he let out a groan due to a sharp pain on his head. He held his head in hope of easing up the pain a little.

Enduring the pain, he just sat down on the futon. After a while, the pain eased up slightly, making it easier for him to think straight once again.

Drest, still feeling a bit light-headed, chose to lie down. The possibility of him in a hostile place was there. He knew that very well.

But the fact that he was not bounded or injured further was a bit of relieve for him. At the very least, his captor did not want him dead. For now.

In his mind, thinking too much would not do him any good. But he couldn't do anything but think for now. So his only option was to at least asses the whole situation.

Not to mention that he had a rather strange dream. A dream that felt somehow…very familiar.

All of a sudden, the sliding door that was located on the far end of the room slid open. Startled by that, Drest quickly shifted his gaze to the direction of the door.

There he saw a figure standing with a hood covering the head part. The hood itself, brown in color, had a pair of animal ear on it. Only a small portion of the figure's face could be seen, mostly was hidden by the thick blonde hair that was left flowing out of the hood into the figure's chest. A small cross attached into a thin chain was left hanging in front of the chest. Drest couldn't figure out anything from those few clues alone.

Before he could say anything, the figure walked toward him.

Although not knowing what the figure meant to do, Drest didn't move. His reason was because he didn't feel any malicious intent form the figure.

"Uhm, excuse me?" he said with a small voice.

The figure, as if didn't hear him, keep walking toward him. Confused at what to say next, Drest could only stare at the figure that was walking toward him.

After reaching the distance of only one step from him, the hooded one halted.

"Uhm, are you the one that–Argh!" Another painful headache stopped him from speaking. He clutched his head again while enduring the pain.

While still enduring the pain, the one in front of him raised an arm with the palm facing toward him. Then an incantation came out of the figure's head.

_"The rose that hold the seal, fire which bloomed by one's faith, returns the warrior zeal, and restores the brave one's health."_

At the end of the incantation which was spelled with a melodic voice, the palm which was spread toward him started to shine with bright reddish light.

Squinting his eyes due to the bright light, Drest could feel some power flowing out of the light that seeped into his body.

Curious of what happening, he tried to open his eyes. When he finally able to open his eyes, the scene that unfolded in front of him was something he never saw. The word that suited him at that moment was 'mesmerized'.

Rose petals came showering from that light, encircling him while came fluttering down in such a way. Sparks of fire also accompanied those petals. The spark that came in contact with the petal did not ignite them. It was as if the sparks was there to illuminate the petals, adding further beauty to them.

But the scene did not stop them. Every time the sparks and petals came near him, they affect him in their own way. The sparks, although looked hot to touch, didn't burn him at all. Instead, they warmed his body, making him feel light. The petals, with their own beauty, were not only pleasing to the eyes but also pleasing to his other sense. The pleasant fragrance relaxed him, making his headache eased up to the point of almost disappeared. It was as if he was being hug by a pleasant and warm feeling, making him able to forget his pain and regained his vigor altogether.

The spell that last for a few seconds finally stopped, leaving him slightly disappointed. But he could feel the change in his body. No longer feeling any pain or fatigue, he was revived entirely. His breathing became easy and his body felt the stream of power started to run in every part of his limb.

He looked at the figure, which he now knew as a female due to the feminine voice she used before and also her built, and then gave her his word of gratitude.

"Thank you very much," said Drest with a slight bow and a smile on his face.

But she didn't react, opting to stand there with her hand already retracted to a relaxed position.

Seconds later, she raised her right hand and put it near the place which probably her ear that was covered by the hood.

"…Yes…He's awake…" muttered the girl, which Drest realized had a rather dark skin after looking at her closely.

Inside his mind, the question was obvious. Who was she talking to? Is she one of those people that could speak with the invisible spirit that inhabit the world?

Once again, he was left with so many questions. And once again, before he could ask her anything, sounds of footsteps that came from outside of the room alerted him.

Although the footsteps did not sounded like it was made from someone running, he could tell that the footsteps were rather hurried.

"Ah, there he is!" A female voice entered the room as the footsteps finally came closer to him.

He shifted his eyes again from the hooded girl to the newly added speaker. It was a person he recognized.

From the bulking armor and also the memorable scarf, it was the girl that he met in the moss covered building. He knew her name as–

"Kyouko! Wait up!" Then another familiar voice came again. This time it was the smaller brunet, Hisako.

She entered the room with a rather ragged breath, a clear sign of her running not long ago.

"Ah, sorry, sorry. I was just too curious, you know?" said the taller girl casually.

When the last girl finally entered the room, Drest felt a sudden fear attacked his mind. He finally realized that the girl that casted a spell on him was an adventurer, same as the two girls before.

If that is true, that he was probably brought here by them. And the place where he was at the moment was no other than the place they called the guild.

Frowning when he saw the two new yet familiar faces, he felt his body entered into an alert mode.

"Ah, please don't worry. We mean you no harm," said Hisako while waving her hand at Drest, clearly realizing the weary attitude Drest shown all of a sudden.

"Yes, yes. We're on the same boat, you know? I mean stuck in this game and all that stuff," said Kyouko with the same casual tone she used before.

Beside her, the blonde hooded girl only nodded slightly, agreeing with her friend's word.

"…Stuck in this game?" Another foreign phrase entered his mind. And then he remembered what had happened at that building. He remembered what they were talking about.

"Yes, we're stuck in this game, Elder Tale. Uhm, did you know?" Hisako looked concern at the lack of reaction from Drest toward her statement earlier.

"Elder Tale?" Drest said with a questioning looks. At this, Kyouko nudged her friend slightly with her elbow. She then asked her.

"Did you think he had those ams, ans, uhm, that stuff about losing memory?"

"Huh? Amnesia?"

"Yeah! That! I mean, he did have a big chunk of wall fell on him, you know?" she reminded her friend of what befall the lying guy.

"I see. That's a possibility, but…Uhm, what do you think, Sandy?" asked Hisako to the dark skinned girl which was called Sandy.

"…He had the status 'Weakened'. I already cast my spell."

"Spell? Which one?" asked the taller girl.

"…'Goddesses Petals'," said Sandy shortly.

"Ah, and now he looked fine. Right?"

A simple nod came from Sandy.

"Maybe the amnesia was caused by him being sucked into this game." Hisako presented another possibility.

"Oh, that's possible. So I guess, we can do anything with that, eh?" Kyouko asked her friend with concern.

"Sadly, not right now." Hisako replied, looks of disappointment on her face.

While the three of them talked with each other, Drest looked at the three of them. They looked very different from each other, yet they looked to be in such a close bond. It was something that he never encountered before. And it seemed the three of them had already sentenced him as "an adventurer that lost his memory". Not that he could deny that since the memory of who he was before awoken at the building was much clouded and close to none.

"Then, what are we going to do with him?" Kyouko asked the question that Drest himself asked in his own thought.

"We can't simply leave him, right? It's just not right."

"Of course! If we did that, Sou-sama will be mad at us!" Kyouko replied with such confidence.

The mention of that name once again made him have a complicated feeling. At one side, it was an honor if he could meet such a legendary figure, known for his battle prowess and magnificent skill. But at the other side, he was a bit scared of meeting such a deadly adventurer.

"..We'll help." Sandy said with a small voice which resulted to a nod from each of her friend.

"So with that," Kyouko put her hand forward toward Drest. He unconsciously backed away a little at that.

But he felt no ill intent from her, so he tried to act as calm as possible. "Let's meet Sou-sama right away!"

"Eh?"

"Yes, let's go!" she grabbed his hand and pulled him away from his futon in a swift manner, startling Drest slightly.

Facing the dumbfounded Drest, the two other adventurers only nodded at him, confirming their friend suggestion at him.

At that, Drest could not give any response except a small nod. It was a nod which was filled with so many thought that made his mind blank.


	5. Chapter 5 - Guild Master

**Disclaimer: Log Horizon, all of its characters, musics, and stories belongs to their own respective owner. In this case, is written by Mamare Touno, illustrated by Kazuhiro Hara and published by Enterbrain. The only things I own here is the OC named Drest. This fanfict may or may not be canon. Besides that, I've got nothing else to say. So with that, please take a seat, grab your drink, pick your snack, and have a pleasant ride (or read).  
**

* * *

**Chapter 5 "Guild Master"**

Sounds of footsteps resounded on the long wooden floored hallway that led to a wide sliding door. From the material it used, one could tell that it was made with oriental style and fashion in mind. Besides the door was a pair of small potted plant that that consisted of a single bamboo that was trimmed neatly and a vine with a blooming red flower on the middle. Although the decoration looked simple, the atmosphere created by them was very elegant.

Moments later, the footsteps stopped and four people stood there. On the front of the door were the three female adventurers. Behind them was a man, although a bit taller than the three of them, stood timidly and nervously. The reason was because the man was the odd one among the group as he was the only one in the group that was not in the same guild with the other three girls.

Drest, who was dragged rather forcefully by the strong Kyouko, stood there with a lot of thought swirling inside his mind. He was left confused at how fast the event had fold. First he woke up in a ruin of a building with a lot of his memory went missing. Next thing he knew he was being brought to meet the ever famous and legendary 'Sword Saint' Soujirou Seta. Nervousness and fear and excitement were running around in his inside his mind, making him unable to react properly to anything except following the three adventurers.

"We're here!" said Kyouko proudly.

Hearing that, Drest's mind blanked completely.

Seeing that, the dark skinned girl tugged his clothes slightly, earning her his attention.

"…Don't worry. Master is a kind one," she said to him, reassuring him. Although the word was meant to ease his mind, he didn't feel anything of that sort happening to him.

"Relax, we'll do the talking, Drest-san." This time, the slightly smaller Hisako assured him.

But her previous words were making him nervous even more. The reason? It was because she said his name. He never did tell any of them his name. But they knew that right away. He was sweating in fear at how powerful the adventurers were, able to do what it seemed like reading his mind.

"Ah, just relax already," said Kyouko while patting his back with a bit of too much power that made him stumbled forward a little.

"W-Woah!"He managed to avoid crashing into the sliding door, although only barely.

"Kyouko! Don't be mean to him!" Hisako scolded her friend.

"…Kyouko." Even the quiet Sandy tried to scold her, with her own way of course.

"W-What!? I didn't know that he was that weak!" Kyouko tried to defend herself against the two girls that ganged up on her.

The three of them started to bicker with each other, ignoring the main victim who was trying to suppress his fear and anxiety.

He glanced back at the three bickering girls. At first, they looked far from strong or capable. But even they were able to know his name without him noticing. And they said that their master was none other than the renowned samurai of the Debauchery Tea Party, Soujirou Seta. The rumor surrounding the samurai stated that the samurai was a very deadly warrior, able to deal killing blow in split second. Without even realizing it, death has been delivered by him in such an elegant manner to the enemy. Rumor has it that what they saw was nothing more than a flash of light. The next thing was that a rain of blood poured on earth, courtesy of the slain enemies of the deadly samurai. Things like those were circulating in his thought, making him far from calm and composed.

But maybe he could reason with the deadly warrior. Surely a veteran adventurer like him would hear a word or two before taking any action. If so, then maybe his best chance was to get to the good side of his subordinate. And the closest subordinate for now was the three bickering girl in front of him.

At that resolution, Drest steeled himself and prepare to strike a conversation with them. That is if the three girls would stop bickering with each other.

"Uhm, excuse–"

"If you want to talk, come inside first, girls." A gentle voice came from behind the sliding door, surprising the four of them, Drest the most. He was unable to finish his sentence.

At that voice, the three adventurers in front of him stopped and muttered under their breath words like "Now look what you've done," and such to each other.

Then without any of them touching the door, it slid open. Unlike Drest who looked surprised by that, the others looked perfectly calm.

"Geez, why didn't you just enter the room first, girls?" Another voice sounded, this time much closer to them.

Drest looked to the source of the voice and found another female, flowing orange hair on the side and wearing a simple eastern style robe with a patterned lining on the wide sleeves. Underneath it was an outfit fit for a samurai, complete with a sword hanging on the left side of her waist. Her hair, which was tied in into a single knot with a blue colored ribbon, suited her whole samurai looks.

Just from that, Drest knew right away that this girl was another one of the legendary samurai's subordinate. Her purple colored eyes shifted to the odd one among the four, looking sharply yet a trace of gentleness was present there. For a moment, she was assessing Drest in silence. She then shifted her gaze to the other three, especially to Hisako.

"He's the one?" she asked with a low voice while closing on to Hisako.

"Uhm, yes, he is."

"I see." She nodded and then walked aside, making a way for the three to enter the room. She then gestured them to come inside with her hand.

The three, completely calm now, followed her. Drest also followed them a few steps behind.

At the end of the room, one could see the city of Akiba. Leaning on to the railing were a couple adventurer. One was a male, the other was a female.

The female one wore a very exotic looking outfit. Her outfit which emphasized her voluptuous body was one of a modified version of a shrine maiden or diviner robe. Although her looks was quite daring, the thing that captured Drest's attention at first was neither her chest nor face. It was her ears, which stood proudly and twitching every seconds or so, just like a pair of fox ear. It was from that that Drest could know her lineage. She was that of a beast-man race, a fox tail to be exact. Beast-man race is a race which had the characteristic of animal-like part on their body. The fox tail, just as other beast-man race, had the characteristic of a fox. It is the fox ears and the phantom tails that only could only be seen by one who has a good affinity with magic. While the other beast-man had a slight boost in their physical ability, fox tail tribe had a boost on their magical ability, making them a tribe that excelled greatly in magic.

The other one, the male one, was one that Drest could already tell who it was. Among the many adventurers in the room, he was the only one that emitted a special aura. If he had to say, it was the aura that of a leader with a charismatic and gentle feeling. If he had to tell again, it was that of a leader with a lot of experience under his belt. His clothes, which were only a bit different from the female samurai, didn't strike him as that at first sight. A hakama with the color of dark blue under the teal colored long sleeved robe as same as his female friend and a scarf that was tied on his neck, those were the only difference. His navy blue colored hair that was tied into a long ponytail suited his image of a samurai. He was no other than the one the girls called Guild Master, "Sword Saint" Soujirou Seta, the famous samurai of the Debauchery Tea Party.

"Sou-sama!" "Guild Master!" "…Master." The three of them greeted the samurai boy with such vigor. With that, Drest's hunch was confirmed. He was exactly what he expected.

"Ah, he's awake, I presumed?" he asked them with such a gentle voice while still keeping his hand hidden under his wide sleeves.

"Yes, Sou-sama. We want to show him to you," said Kyouko.

"Kyouko, you just said that as if he was a bug or something." Even though Hisako said that with a small voice, it was still loud enough for the whole adventurers in the room to hear.

"Eh? Really?" the armored girl said with a confused look after being scolded by her friend, apparently didn't realize what she had done.

"…Like bug," confirmed Sandy with a slight nod, earning a rather annoyed look from Kyouko.

"Oh come on! I don't mean it like that!" Unable to give a comeback, she shouted her reply.

At that, a small laugh came from the samurai leader.

It was enough to make the bickering girls stopped. Kyouko, who was the center of the scene, could only rub the back of her head awkwardly.

Looking at that, Drest who was an outsider could even tell how close those adventurers were. They were more than friend. It was close to a family. Realizing that, a small smile crept on his face.

"Ah, look. Even he was laughing at you, Kyouko," pointed the samurai leader to the other. With that, their attention shifted to the one they were supposed to introduce but forgot to. This gesture made Drest feel nervous all over again.

"Well, Drest-san. I have to give you my gratitude for helping my friends escape the building safely." Soujirou said with a smile on his face.

"Oh, uhm, it was n-nothing, Soujirou-dono." Being thanked by such a legendary figure, Drest stuttered his sentence, earning a small giggle from the other adventurers.

"Pft, first time someone called you like that, eh Souji?" The fox tail woman said while nudging her elbow to Soujirou slightly.

"Actually, I've heard that quite often."

"Really now?" she paused for a second then continued, "from a male player?"

"Uhm, no." Soujirou said while rubbing his nose, showing his awkwardness at her female companion rather sharp intuition.

"Then it is a first then." The fox tail woman said with a smug attitude.

"I mean 'no' as in 'not often', not that a male player have never call me that. Actually, now that you mention it," he closed his eyes and folded his arms, "I did experienced that a couple of time."

"From a male? Really?"

"Well, Sou-sama is a very famous person. There's bound to be one or two male fan of his." Kyouko said proudly.

"So we've even got male competitor too? How about that, Isami-san?" said the fox tail woman while looking at the female samurai.

"W-W-What!? T-T-That had n-nothing to do with me!" Even though she was denying that badly, even Drest who was an outsider could see that she was bothered by that fact, mostly because of the intense blushing she was having on her face.

"Calm down, Isami-san. All you have to do is be a little bolder, isn't that right, Souji~" This time, she said that while linking Soujirou's arm with her, making his arm touching her voluptuous breast slightly. A slight blush appeared on the boy's cheeks.

"W-WAARRGHH! Nazuna-san!" Isami shouted at that while the other only laughed at the antics of their guild seniors.

At that, Soujirou only shook his head lightly with a smile on his face.

Along the scene, Drest only stood there in silence, looking at the peculiar guild member with interest in his eyes. The whole time he was with them, more and more of their nature showed up. And with each nature showed up, he became much more interested in them. They, who were viewed as an unnatural, powerful, immortal, and god-like existence by the People of the Land, were now showing him their human like trait. Joy, sorrow, anxiety, worry, jealousy, love. Those were only a fraction of emotion they showed him. The more he spends time with them, the more alike they were with the other People of the Land. But he couldn't deny that they were powerful, much much more powerful, than any People of the Land.

"Ugh!" Drest groaned slightly with his body leaning forward slightly and his knees slightly buckled. He was barely able to keep his balance.

After thinking like that, he was assaulted by the yet another headache. He was reminded by that pain that he should never try to regain his memory, although the sense that he was not an adventurer still present inside his mind.

"D-Drest-san! Are you okay?" The first one to notice his groan was none other than the guild master himself. He quickly let go of his friend's arm and ran toward him with worried face.

"D-Don't worry, I'm f-fine." He tried to fake a smile, but failed miserably due to the intense pain he was having.

"Oh no, what are we supposed to do? Sandy-san? C-Can you heal him? B-But he is already in full HP." The samurai was panicking like it was the end of the world.

"Calm down, Souji. You panicking is the last thing we need right now," said the woman named Nazuna with her hand placed on Soujirou's shoulder, trying to calm him down.

"P-Please wait a moment," Drest said while raising his hand, "I'll be fine in a w-while." He continued while still enduring his pain.

With that, the other could only look at him worriedly without saying anything. Drest tried to concentrate as best as he could to make the pain vanish quicker.

A few seconds later, his pain subsided completely. Unlike before, his pain vanished without making his body feel weak or disoriented. It was probably due to the spell Sandy casted earlier.

"Are you…fine now, Drest-san?" Soujirou asked with the same worried face as before. Drest couldn't help but smiled at how caring this warrior showed to a complete stranger like him.

"Yes, I am now. Please forgive me for that, everyone." He said with a slight bow to the other.

"It couldn't be help, right? I mean, no one like to experience pain. But are you really okay, Drest-san?" Soujirou asked again.

"Yes, I am. For now at least." He smiled at him, trying to calm him down. Among the many people inside the room, the one that looked to be in so much worry was him. Inside Drest mind, he was a bit questioning how could he lead the guild if something like that was enough to make him panic. But maybe it was exactly that kind of thinking that made him a good guild master. A caring and kind leader.

"Well, before we get sidetracked again and leaving you out of the conversation like before," Soujirou looked at the adventurer trio from before and continued, "it seems that they have something to say to me about you."

"Ah, yes. Sou-sama. It seems he have amnesia." Kyouko quickly said that.

"Amnesia? You mean you don't remember anything, Drest-san? Is that true?"

"Uhm," being questioned like that make him nervous as whether he was going to say the truth about him not being an actual adventurer or not. But he decided to keep that for a while and went with the flow of the conversation. "Not entirely, Soujirou-dono. I have a few memories here and there, but the majority of it is missing."

"Ah, I see, I see. I'm so sorry for that." He said sincerely.

"Thank you for your concern, Soujirou-dono." Drest said while bowing again a little. What he said was not entirely wrong. But that was the best he could come up with at the moment.

"And he was weaken, right Sandy-san?" Hisako looked at her friend for confirmation. And she received that in a form of a slight nod by the hooded girl.

"Weaken? You are quite in a bad condition, Drest-san," said Nazuna at him. She folded her arm and then continued asking, "Did that happen before or after the wall collapsed on you?"

"I'm not sure, actually. But the moment I awoke, I was having this intense pain in my head and also I can't move much."

"I see. Then we can assume that the amnesic condition also happened at that moment, right?"

"Correct, Nazuna-dono." Drest said with a slight nod.

"Then what are you going to do now, Drest-san? I mean with the whole city of Akiba in chaos due to the sudden…," she paused for a sudden, looking for the right word to give. After a while, she then continued, "Happening. It will not be an easy task to survive there."

Hearing that, he realized the amount of difficulty he will face in the future. As a People of the Land, he will surely face a lot of different things here. Even if he now had the status of an adventurer, a level 90 Swashbuckler to be exact, it will not be an easy task. He had no idea how an adventurer live normally. Sooner or later, the adventurer will suspect him for being something odd. But what choice does he have for now? With no one he can contact for help, he will probably have to live there all alone.

"I don't know. I honestly…don't know." His voice sounded heavy and lack of hope.

"Drest-san." Hisako and the other looked at him with pity. It was hard enough waking in a foreign place. But to have no one to rely on and to walk alone, it was like adding salt to the wound.

"But what can I do, right? I guess I'll have to survive out there." He said that with a smile, although inside his heart he was at lost at what to do.

"Then how about asking for help, Drest-san?"

"Huh? I would certainly do that, Soujirou-dono." He let out a heavy sigh. "But unfortunately, I don't have anyone to ask to."

"Isn't there anyone on your friend list that is here too?" Isami asked him.

"Friend list? What's that?" Drest asked after hearing another strange term.

"You know, the list of player you played with some time ago?"

Drest could only shake his head at that. "Forgive me, Isami-dono. But I don't understand what you are talking about."

Hearing his answer, the other adventurer looked at him with much more pity than before.

"It seems your amnesia is quite severe, Drest-san." Soujirou said while looking at him.

"…I guess so." He tried to refrain from thinking about his memory again, avoiding he possibility of a sudden pain again.

"Sou-sama." Kyouko called him. "Can we–"

"Not unless he agreed." Soujirou stopped her saying anything further, knowing exactly what she was about to say.

"…Understood." She replied with a slight hope in her eyes.

Noticing that something was happening, Drest ask them.

"What is it, Soujirou-dono?"

"I have a few things I have to discuss with you, if that is okay with you, Drest-san." Soujirou asked with a serious expression on his face.

This made Drest unable to say anything except a slight nod to that question.

"First, I want to once again thank you for helping my friends escape the building which they were trapped in a few moments ago."

"It was nothing, Soujirou-dono. I'm sure anyone would help them."

"Quite possible. Although, you were the one that did that. An you were in such a terrible condition back then. Am I right?"

"…Correct, Soujirou-dono." He couldn't say that he tried to escape alone while avoiding them.

"Then second thing I want to talk about is you yourself, Drest-san."

"Me?" Soujirou nodded him.

"I'll be blunt, Drest-san. You are weakened, but not in status kind of weakened. Your mind is weakened. My guess is because of the sudden shock of realizing the whole thing we're in right now."

Hearing that, his whole body shivered. Possible scenario of him in the city was flashing inside his mind. He knew very well that Soujirou didn't mean anything bad by stating that, he knew that very well. But being reminded again of how different and dangerous the world of adventurer is to him was not a pleasant thing to hear.

"Unfortunately, I c-couldn't agree more, Soujirou-dono." He had to at least say something, although it came out in a stuttering manner.

"I'm glad that you can accept that reality, Drest-san. Then I have an offer to you, Drest-san."

"An offer?" He didn't expect that.

"I, no, we want to help you. I am, after all, indebted to you for saving my precious friend." He said to him with a smile on his face, the same gentle smile he wore a usual.

It was such an unexpected thing, that Drest was left with his mouth open. After regaining his composure, he gave his reply to that.

"B-But, you've all treated me so well here. I am indebted to you too, Soujirou-dono. If not for your guild mate here," Drest looked to everyone else in the room, "I'm as good as dead."

"Uhm, true, true. Hmm…" Soujirou once again closed his eyes and folded his arm, thinking what else to say.

"Ah, let's just skip the complex stuff, 'kay? We just want to help you. You help our friend, we help treat you back. Debt's gone, right?" Nazuna said with a rather laid back manner, but seriousness was on her voice.

"Correct, Nazuna-dono." Drest nodded at that statement.

"But now you are the one in trouble, you know? I mean, no memory, uhm, scratch that. Memory full of holes, did I get that right?" A slight nod from Drest, then Nazuna continued. "And no guild too, I presume."

"…Well, yes."

"So I guess you're in a pinch here. Simply speaking, you're not exactly in the easiest path in the future, right?"

Not knowing full well the adventurer's way of speaking but somehow getting the meaning, Drest nodded.

"Then we're the same. We offer you help in exchange of your help too. How's that?" Soujirou said to him after finding the correct word to say.

"My help? What can I do?"

"Well, you're a top level player too, aren't you?"

"Top level?" Drest forgot what that mean but quickly understood what he meant, "Oh, you mean my level?"

"Well, what else?"

"Okay, but I don't really know how to fight, Soujirou-dono."

"We're the same, Drest-san." The female samurai step in, giving him her opinion.

"The same?"

"Why, yes. I am actually afraid to fight. I've never fight in my whole life. And…I failed to do just that not long ago." Isami said with a disappointed expression.

It was unbelievable for Drest that such a strong adventurer said that she was never in a fight before. But judging from her tone, he couldn't find that as a lie or anything. She was telling the truth.

"We'll teach you the basic ropes to it, Drest-san. We're in the same boat." Kyouko said firmly. "Well, Sou-sama will, at least." A small smile accompanied her statement.

"I will, don't worry about it. So, how about it, Drest-san?"

For Drest, this was the best offer he could have. Stranded in a foreign part of the world with a memory full of holes and no one to ask for help. He couldn't ask for more. But the thought of fighting alongside an unnatural existence such as the adventurer worried him deeply. He looked to the legendary samurai. He found that his eyes showed nothing but sincere hope to help and work together. He could at least see that. Besides, he didn't have anything to do and the fact that working together with the adventurer is a very priceless experience no People of the Land would dream of.

He looked to everyone's eyes and they seemed to share the same opinion as their guild master.

He steeled himself as he reached his decision. He took a deep breath and gave his reply.

"Very well then. I accept your offer. Please treat me well, everyone." He gave them a smile from the deepest part of his heart.

The other gave their own smile to him after hearing his reply to their guild master's offer.

"Welcome to our guild, The West Wind Brigade, Drest-san." Soujirou extended his arm for a shake with him.

Drest accepted his hand and shook them with a firm grip, although Soujirou grip was much stronger.

Everyone clapped their hand in welcoming the newest member of their guild, a level 90 swashbuckler, who unknown to them was a People of the Land.


	6. Omake 1

**Omake 1**

After being invited into the West Wind Brigade guild, Drest's mind was filled with a lot more things than he expected. From who were the adventurers really are to the future of him being in such a renowned guild. At the moment, he was sitting in one of the many room of the guild hall that share the same oriental decoration with a single hanging scroll which had the name of the guild on it and a single potted bamboo. He was studying his equipment and all of the status that appeared in front of him. This was something his current guild master, Soujirou Seta, advised him to do. After being guided by him for a short while about opening his status windows and all, he was in deep thought. The status of him is as the following:

* * *

Name : **Drest**  
Level : **90**  
Race : **Human**  
Class : **Swashbuckler**  
Subclass : **Pharmacist**  
HP : **10225**  
MP : **10125**  
Equipment :

- **Fools Ring**  
A special ring made from "Brave Essence" and "Seed of Serenity" guarded by the twin dragon, Sudita and Sadea. The design is very simple and easily mistaken as a novice gear. Increase the wearer's MP regeneration rate significantly. When used in bright places, enables the technique "Masses Ignorance" which would hide their name and status completely. Also enabled the passive effect of easily ignored in a crowd.

- **Silent Verdant Trench Coat**  
Weaved from a special fairy thread that had to be bought from the ever exclusive Fairy Merchant. The garment made them able to dampen any sound the wearer made completely. Had a very plain color of dirty brown and moss green lining. Reflects earth elemental damage to the attacker while healing the wearer slightly.

- **Monochrome Shine Dirk**  
This set of dirk, made of "Deepdark Steel", increase the wearer's accuracy by minimizing the air friction it caused when used. In addition, the wearer will gain a unique technique called "Shadow Blend" which enabled the wearer to melt completely into any shade near them, hiding their appearance and sound completely. Shine with a dim light when pulled out from their scabbard. If the two clashed together, it will make a flash effect that blinded nearby enemy and ally.

* * *

This went for quite some times, until he was called.

"Drest-san!" The cheerful sound of Kyouko resounded into his room after a knocked came into his room. "Sou-sama called you!"

"Yes, I'll be right there, Kyouko-dono!" He shouted shortly to give his reply.

Closing his status windows, he stood up and walked to the door.

Before he opened the sliding door, he shook his head and came into a conclusion.

"I don't understand a single thing about it." He then slid the door open. "I'll ask the other for it later." And then he exited the room, answering the summoning of his guild master.

* * *

**[Episode I : Meeting with The Adventurers - End]**

**This is the end of episode one. Each episode will consist of 5 chapters. After that 5th chapter, an omake will be there. Either for a simple note or any other extra. So with this, we'll see you later on the 2nd episode.**


	7. Chapter 6 - First Hunt

**Disclaimer: Log Horizon, all of its characters, musics, and stories belongs to their own respective owner. In this case, is written by Mamare Touno, illustrated by Kazuhiro Hara and published by Enterbrain. The only things I own here is the OC named Drest. This fanfict may or may not be canon. Besides that, I've got nothing else to say. So with that, please take a seat, grab your drink, pick your snack, and have a pleasant ride (or read).  
**

* * *

**[Episode II : Fighting with The Adventurers]**

**Chapter 6 "First Hunt"**

"You ready?" A soft whisper was heard.

"Y-Yes, ready." A reply, although sounded far from what the content should suggest, came to that question.

"Well, sorry to say, but we have to do it now, Drest-san."

"Y-Yes, Kyouko-dono." Drest once again gave the same lack of confidence answer to his fellow guildmate.

His reason for being far from confident was the situation they were in.

The three of them– Kyouko, the guardian; Hisako, the summoner; and Drest, the newly recruited swashbuckler– were on a mission from their guild master, Soujirou. Their mission was far from complicated and dangerous. It was just a simple gathering task.

"Remind me again why are we doing this, Hisako?"

"We are to gather as much raw food as possible. Why the question?" Hisako answered Kyouko question.

"Because I thought this was supposed to be a simple mission from Sou-sama."

"Kyouko, you do know that we are not exactly in Elder Tale the game, don't you?"

"…Yes, sorry about that."

"Uhm, do we really have to fight them?" Drest who was not involved in their conversation decided to cut in and ask away. The reason was because in front of them were a pack of goblin armed to their teeth.

Of course they weren't planning on fighting them in the first place. They were even trying to avoid meeting those demi-humans on their way of gathering the item. But somewhere along their way, a single arrow was shot and barely missed Hisako who were in the middle of the group. After looking around, they found out that they were ambushed by a pack of goblin.

"Or what? They got us surrounded, you know?" Kyouko reminded Drest while keeping her shield up.

"…You're right. Sorry for asking." This time, it was Drest turn to apologize.

With their way of out being guarded by the goblin, the only possible action for them was indeed to fight them.

Drest looked to the other girls. At first, he was hoping that fighting with veteran adventurers like them would be much safer than venturing alone. But seeing that they are also in panic was forcing him to reconsider his previous thought. Hisako, who was a summoner, was tinkering with her floating windows judging from her way of moving her finger on air.

While Hisako was busy trying to do something, Kyouko who was a guardian was placed in the front line, trying to calm herself at the face of vicious looking goblins. Although trying to look tough, Drest could see her hand that was holding the sword was trembling slightly, an evidence of her nervousness from being placed in the front of the battle.

Seeing that, Drest steeled himself and trying to remember what his guild master said the other day to him.

_"Feel, don't think."_

That single statement was far from understandable to him at first. And facing a vicious pack of goblin surely didn't help a bit.

While being surrounded by the goblins, they were only able to make a semicircular formation with Drest and Kyouko in the front and Hisako on the back due to her lower HP. If one word could describe their situation, it would be 'cornered'. Yes, they were cornered because they took the wrong path and now behind them were a boulder.

"So any plan, Kyouko-dono?"

"Eh? Who? Me?" Hearing that, Drest could only nod while still focusing on the enemies in front of them. "Uhm, Hisako?"

"Sorry, Kyouko. But I need to concentrate on my skill for now."

"Ugh, not good. I'm not the plan–Watch out!" Her words were disturbed by the sudden arrows shot at them. Although carrying steel shield, she was too late to raise it as a few arrows managed to pass through and embedded to the boulder behind them.

"Argh!?" Hisako who was focusing too much was almost hit by the arrows. Fortunately, she was able to duck a few milliseconds before the arrow hit her head.

"K-Kyouko-dono! They're attacking!" Drest warned his comrade for incoming attack. He quickly readied his weapons.

"R-Right!" The female guardian quickly joined him in readying her weapon.

As the goblins lunged toward them with weapon pointed at them, both of them were far from calm, making them barely able to parry the attacks. As Drest was dual wielding, he was able to block two attacks at the same time, just like Kyouko who was wielding her shield rather well. But the difference was that blocking with a sword still gave him a little damage, unlike blocking with a shield.

With that in mind, Drest resorted to dodging each of the attacks that aimed at him. One slash, two thrust, one arrow. He ducked, dodged, and jumped to avoid each of the attack. While doing that, he was surprised that his body was able to do those moves almost effortlessly.

"Argh!" A shout came from the back of the team. It was from Hisako who was still casting a summoning spell to one of her summon. Drest quickly parried a goblin spear and kicked him on the stomach, making the demi-human tumbled backward and making it possible for him to fall back slightly.

"Hisako-dono! Are you all right?" He quickly looked at her and found the problem.

"D-Don't worry," said Hisako as she pulled the arrow that managed to hit her on the arm with a slight wince. "It was not as painful as I thought so. Maybe my level helped me." She said trying to assuring her friend who looked to be in panic seeing her hit by a straw arrow.

"Sorry, I'll do better next time."

"Drest-san! I need some help here!" A shout came from the front. Hearing that make him realized that by leaving his position, the only one that was facing the enemies was none other than Kyouko.

"Quick, help her!"

"Y-Yes, right away!" With a command from the female summoner, Drest quickly rejoined his friend on the battle front. "Sorry for that, Kyouko-dono."

"Don't mind it. Is she okay?" Kyouko asked him.

"Hisako-dono is fine. Although the sight of her being hit by an arrow is…" Drest couldn't finish his word. Kyouko only glanced at him, understanding what he wanted to say.

"…I understand. Well then, that means we have to finish this up early."

"Understood, Kyouko-dono." With a newly inspired spirit inside them, the two of them stood guard, protecting the female summoner behind them with all their might.

With their weapon ready and their mind focused after knowing a single slip might hurt or even killed their friend, the two faced the goblin pack that have closed in on them.

"HARGH!" "HYAAH!" As the two shouted in unison, they both launched a counter attack at the goblins. Drest managed to land a slash that killed a goblin while Kyouko shield crashed into another, sending it to the tree nearby and killing it instantly.

Looking at their fallen comrade, the goblin attacked the two of them. Two of them picked Drest as their enemy and three of them picked Kyouko. Seeing this, the two adventurers felt a bit scared, but their fear was washed away by the wish of protecting their friend and managed to gain enough courage to stand their ground.

While Drest was parrying two of the goblin, Kyouko was switching from one opponent to the other.

"Ugh, difficult!" Drest said while keeping with his own footwork to avoid getting hit by the enemies.

_"Feel, don't think."_

While fighting his hardest, his guild master's word rang over his mind. At first, he didn't know what that means. But as the fighting continues, he realized that his body has felt the flow of the combat, making him able to move fluidly. It was as if he was dancing.

"Ugh!" A rather loud groan came near him. He glanced back and found that his friend was a bit overwhelmed by the uneven number of enemies coming toward her. After slashing one of his enemies and killed it, he regroup back to help her.

"Duck!" Drest shouted to the female guarding. Hearing that, she quickly ducked. Moments later an object that moved quite fast came across her previous position. It was a spear that was thrust by one of the goblin on her back. "HUARGH!" Drest shouted as he thrust his dirk into the enemy, finishing him completely.

"Thanks." Kyouko said while standing up and putting his shield forward, knocking a goblin of his feet , and throwing him backward a few feet in the process.

"Don't mention it." This time, the two of them stand back to back. Even after defeating a few goblins, their slow pace of fighting managed to make other goblin joined the fight. At the moment, the number of enemies had doubled.

"Not a good situation."

"Hehe, couldn't agree more, Drest-san."

While trying to think of a better plan, they heard a slight buzzing sound. And it seemed they are not the only one that heard them as the pack of goblins also stopped in their track and searched for the source of the sound.

_"The holy earth that let us live in this land, I ask thee to come forth and help us stand."_

A small tremble could be felt around them.

"Time for us to leave!" Kyouko quickly ran back leaving the front while grabbing Drest's hand.

"W-What happened!?"

"Just run!" They ran back with the sound of the goblins shouting in strange language at the trembling of the ground. Moments later, the place where the two was fighting at erupted, making a few of the goblins flung upward. The eruption stopped and then formed a figure of a man, although it was far from a perfect human and its height probably as tall as the tree around them. The only resemblance was it had a pair of arm and stood on its two legs. The face was only made of a pair of hole for the eyes and small crack that served as its mouth.

Looking at the massive giant, some of the goblins tried to run away. But before it could run away, the giant grabbed the goblin and hurled it toward its friend, killing about three of them in an instance. Some of them tried to attack the giant soil and managed to crack its leg slightly before being crushed by the very legs he tried to attack.

"What was that!?" Drest who was running away from the battlefield asked his friend in front of him after seeing a monster surfaced from the earth.

"It's Hisako's summon. Hahaha, nice work there!" Kyouko shouted in joy as their enemies was being finished by the giant.

While they were running back, a few goblins jumped from each of their side. Both of them blocked the attack and give back an attack of their own, killing the ambusher.

"Guys, get here!" A shout came from the female summoner who was holding a single tome and a revolving magic circle was under her.

"Good work there, Hisako! You saved us just in time there!" Kyouko rejoined her friend and quickly stood beside her with her shield ready for any attack.

"Your welcome. But I don't think it's over." Hisako said as she sensed a few more were coming toward them.

"Got it! Drest-san, now it's our turn again!"

"Understood!" Drest brandished his dual weapons, ready to attack any incoming foe that managed to pass through the summoned giant.


	8. Chapter 7 - Back to The Guild House

**Disclaimer: Log Horizon, all of its characters, musics, and stories belongs to their own respective owner. In this case, is written by Mamare Touno, illustrated by Kazuhiro Hara and published by Enterbrain. The only things I own here is the OC named Drest. This fanfict may or may not be canon. Besides that, I've got nothing else to say. So with that, please take a seat, grab your drink, pick your snack, and have a pleasant ride (or read).  
**

* * *

**Chapter 7 "Back to The Guild House"**

"*huff*, finally!" Kyouko shouted as they were resting under a big tree on the forest. Besides her was the female summoner, Hisako, who used up half of her MP because of the repeated summoning.

"Ugh, that was not the best battle I have experienced." Hisako complaint as she drank of one her MP potion to refilled her MP.

"You could say that again!" Kyouko yelled her answer to her friend's complaint.

The battle which lasted a bit more than an hour was finally finished with them as the victor. In total, they have defeated about 20 goblins. They have looted quite a lot of items from them. Among those loot were many raw food that they were tasked to gather.

Although winning the whole battle, they have not come out unscathed. Kyouko who was the vanguard and the tank received a lot of damage. Her HP was dropped to the middle of the bar.

While Kyouko received damage, Hisako who was summoning over and over again was tired mentally because she was focusing on the summoning spell for a long period of time.

Among the three, Drest was the one that was in the best condition, although he did received some damage. His effort of dodging instead of normal blocking has minimized the damage he received. He was also able to slay a quite number of enemies while defending the two of them.

Looking at them, Drest was almost unable to belief that they were the famed adventurer that was even able to slay a dragon effortlessly. They were just as they looked; simple young girls who was fighting for their life against a flock of enemies. They were experiencing difficulty and fear when facing enemies. It was a very logical and humane feeling, the same feeling that the People of The Land felt every single days.

While drinking his own share of recovery potions, Drest pondered that thought in silence. He was sitting on a nearby boulder not far from his friend, trying to give the two rather close adventurers a private time. He knew very well that they accepted him right away. They even believed that he was having amnesia and lost the majority of his memory prior to the strange event that made them all stuck in this world. But he knew that he was not like them. He was not an adventurer before. He was one of the People of The Land.

"Ugh!" He dropped his empty bottle as a wave of pain assaulted his mind again. He was reminded to never dig around for his lost memory. But as he was assaulted with the same searing pain time over time, he felt a bit accustomed to the pain, although the process of waiting for it to subside was far from pleasant.

"Drest-san!" He heard a shout from his two comrades. While winching in pain, he could barely see the two of them ran toward him with a worried expression. It seemed they heard his groan.

"Are you okay?" Hisako said to him while checking his status from near him.

"D-Don't worry, Hisako-dono. It'll be gone in a while." He said while trying as best as he could to smile toward them. But it seemed that his smile was not good enough as it had made them look more worried than before.

After waiting for a while, the pain finally vanished. Drest closed his eyes and tried to focus his mind. Seconds later, he opened his eyes and in front of him were the two female adventurers.

"Are you fine now?" asked Kyouko with a worried tone.

"Yes, I am, Kyouko-dono. Thank you for asking." Drest said with a slight nod and a smile on his face.

"Really? You could tell us if it is too much for you, Drest-san." This time, it was Hisako's turn to ask him.

"Thank you for the concern, Hisako-dono. But I am fine now." He said again to them.

The two girls looked at each other and then they sighed. "What's the matter? Hisa–"

A sudden ring came into his ear and it stopped his sentence midway. He looked to his front where a small window with a small character similar to their guild master was waving at him is displayed.

"What's wrong? Your head hurt again?"

"Oh no, no. It's a call from Soujiro-dono."

"From Sou-sama?" Kyouko looked a bit confused at a sudden mention of their guild master.

"Yes, please excuse me." Drest tapped on the button on the window and then a voice came into his mind directly. He put his right hand to his right ear just like Soujirou instructed that time.

"Drest-san, where are you?" The voice from the other side seemed calm and yet a sense of urgency was visible on his voice.

"We are on the outskirt of the forest north of Akiba, Soujirou-dono. Is there something wrong?"

"Oh, no. It's quite fine. Have you finished gathering raw food there?"

"Yes, we have. We have gathered quite a lot. But I don't think this is enough for long, though." He gave his report with a bit of disappointment in his voice.

"Don't worry. We still have a lot of food….Well, if you don't mind the taste of soggy cracker or cardboard, that is."

"Ugh, you're right." Although as one of the People of The Land he never seen the kind of delicious looking food stored inside the guild house that day, the moment he eat one of those food make him regret nothing. The taste was as same as eating a bark of tree. It tasted bland and the texture was the same as eating parchment. It was not the worst food he ate, but definitely not the best too. But the good thing was that the raw food tasted the same. That was the reason the guild member was told to gather as much raw food as possible.

"For the meantime, I want all of you to get back here. I need to discuss something with all of you."

"Understood, Soujirou-dono. We'll get back as soon as possible."

"Good. Be safe now!" At that last statement, a ring came and the call ended with the small window disappeared.

"What did he say?" Hisako asked Drest with a rather impatient look. Besides her was Kyouko who also wore the same expression.

"Soujirou-dono said that we should get back to the guild house. He said that he want to discuss something all of us."

"What happened?" Kyouko asked him.

"I don't know. He didn't say anything more. Well, shall we go then?" After that, they went back to their guild.

* * *

"Welcome back." The one that welcomed them was the fox-tail kannagi, Nazuna. Her ears twitched slightly the moment the group of three entered the guild house.

"We're back~!" Kyouko replied with her spirited voice. "Where's Sou-sama?"

"He's in the dojo with the other. Ah, please put your item in the warehouse first. He said it would take some time." Nazuna said to them briefly before retreating into the inside.

"Okay, then I–"

"Let me do it, Hisako-dono." Drest quickly cut her statement.

"Eh? Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'll meet with you later." After that, Drest took both the load from Hisako and Kyouko with a smile on his face. Without waiting for their reply, Drest walked to the warehouse hurriedly, leaving them on the entrance.

For a bit, Hisako touched her chin, thinking slightly.

"…Drest-san looked rather…"

"Hmm? Rather what, Hisako?" Questioned the female guardian to her friend. But her friend didn't answer, instead only shaking her head.

"Forget it. Well let's go then. What do you think the Guild Master want to discuss with us?"

"Don't know." Kyouko said as she put her hands behind her head. "But if it's going to take some times, I bet it is important."

"True. No use guessing, eh?"

"Yup~!" The two then walked the hallway to the opposite of the warehouse and headed to the dojo.

* * *

"Ooph!" A big thumping sound was made the moment Drest put down the big bag of raw food. Most of them were loot dropped by the pack of goblins back then. "Okay, that should do it!" He wiped his sweat off his forehead.

He looked to the other pile of food around him. On the table were several strange looking piles of food, food that tasted like soggy cracker. Although that what the other adventurer said, Drest himself couldn't not give any opinion about the strange food he never seen before. He picked one of the nearby berries inside the bag and put it inside his mouth.

As he chewed the bright colored berry, he savored the taste. And as he swallowed the food, he muttered under his breath.

"It tasted the same." He sighed rather heavily at that.

In his mind, even though the adventurers here called him their comrade, he couldn't find it in his own mind to call them the same. The bridge between him and the others were too wide to let him think that way. He just felt different, that's all. He had no ill meaning behind it.

As he pondered that, a feeling of guilt came over him. He felt like deceiving them. They, who were able to welcome him with open arm, didn't know the real reason for the way he acted toward them. From time to time, Drest knew that at one of these days they will realize the strange way he viewed them. If they will scorn him, he will certainly not blame them. But if they accepted him just like today, the Drest right now couldn't accept that too.

"…It's not fair for them." He said quietly to no one in particular with a frown on his face. The only witness to his muttering was the wall around him and also the piles of food in front of him.

But all of a sudden, footsteps came toward the storage room. Noticing that, Drest turned around with haste.

"E-Eh?" A small yelp came from the newcomer. It was a female voice unknown to Drest. Maybe it was one of the other guild members. Soujirou did tell him that the guild have about sixty or so members. At that time, he only met six of them. So maybe she was one of the other members.

But he felt something different from her. The girl in front of him with her short black hair looked a bit too weak. He knew very well that he shouldn't judge a person just by the appearance. The other guild member he met also seemed harmless. But the moment he saw them fighting, he knew that they were the real deal. Under their fragile looking body contained a fighting ability that was far above the level of any People of The Land could even dream of.

But she was different. Emanating a pure aura of fear toward seeing him and also with an expression of fear, she looked very different. At one point, he felt something similar to him, but he couldn't exactly point that out.

"U-Uhm, e-excuse me," said the girl with a shy tone. She came closer toward him but still looked wary of him.

"…Yes?" He replied shortly with an unsure voice of himself.

"A-Are you one of the guild member?" She continued asking him.

"…I am." When other heard that answer, they might misinterpret that as a cold and indifferent answer. But he didn't mean that. He was just thinking too much.

Silence washed over them as neither of them knew what to say anymore.

Because of that silence, he suddenly remembered what his Guild Master thought him. It was about the status window. Maybe he could know her more that way.

He looked at her and tried to concentrate, bringing the so called 'status window' in front of him. In a split second, a transparent window appeared in front of him with a few words on it.

"Sara, Housekeeper." He read the words there with a small voice.

"Y-Yes?" But it seemed his word was heard by the black haired girl. At that, he realized that inside the guild, there was another one person that had a similarity. And that similarity was that she, just like him, was one of the People of The Land.


	9. Chapter 8 - Regrouping and Retraining

**Disclaimer: Log Horizon, all of its characters, musics, and stories belongs to their own respective owner. In this case, is written by Mamare Touno, illustrated by Kazuhiro Hara and published by Enterbrain. The only things I own here is the OC named Drest. This fanfict may or may not be canon. Besides that, I've got nothing else to say. So with that, please take a seat, grab your drink, pick your snack, and have a pleasant ride (or read).  
**

* * *

**Chapter 8 "Regrouping and Retraining"**

"Sara-san, you're a–" But before he could finish, he shut his mouth.

"Y-Yes? W-What is it?" Still with stuttering voice, the girl in a traditional Japanese housekeeper uniform asked timidly.

"…No, please forget about it, Sara-sa, I mean, Sara-dono." He quickly corrected his was of speech as he shook his head lightly. If he was caught referring her differently from the other, he might be viewed strange earlier than he expected. He still need time to be able to learn from the other. Because of that, watching out for every single detail of his act was necessary, even to the way he called other people.

From what he understood, his polite way of speech was viewed as his natural way of speaking by the other guild member. With that in mind, he needed to keep his way of speech just like before. Even if he wanted to ask many things to a fellow People of The Land, he needed to be careful of the time and place. And this time, it was not the right time.

"E-Excuse me, are you Drest-sama?" She asked him.

"Uhm, yes, I am." Feeling a bit weird being addressed that way, he replied with a bit of uncertainty.

"I have a message from Nazuna-sama."

"From Nazuna-dono?"

"Yes, she said to meet with the other in the dojo."

"To the do–, Ah, yes, yes. Right away." He remembered that he was supposed to meet with the other. It seemed he took a bit of time thinking in the storage room.

"And, here." She produced a pair of folded clothes and presented it to him. "She said that you have to wear this."

"Oh, okay." He took the clothes from her. "Thank you, Sara-dono."

"E-Eh?" A bit startled, she didn't reply at first. But then she regained her composure and reply back with a bow. "You're welcome, Drest-sama." At that, she quickly left the room with a still surprised looks.

Seeing her leaving, Drest was a bit confused at what to do. But his confusion didn't last long as he realized that he must do one thing for now with the clothes in his hand. And quickly at that since it was his Guild Master's order.

* * *

In front of a certain room, the black haired man stood donning the clothes he was given to moments ago. It was a white dougi for practicing martial art. Surprisingly, it fit him quite nicely.

"Is this the dojo?" A bit unsure of the identity of the room in front of him, he hesitated to enter the room. But the sound of people from the inside lessened his hesitation. Since Soujirou called everyone, the loudest place must be the place he was supposed to be looking for.

He took a deep breath to calm himself down. And then another one. Just to make sure.

"Okay!" He pumped his hand, readying himself. "I'm good to go!"

He then opened the sliding door that separated him from the others inside the room. With a sliding sound, the door opened, revealing the people inside the dojo.

Seeing there were quite a lot of them and almost all of them were female, he muttered under his breath a single statement. "Oh, I'm not good to go…" And with that, his previous vigor has evaporated into the air completely.

The moment he slid the door open, all of the eyes inside the room were gazing at him, adding more into his already nervous mind. He could already feel sweat pouring from his forehead because of that.

"Oh, what took you so long, Drest-san?" A gentle and relaxed voice came from the group of people. It was the famed samurai himself who was wearing the same outfit as Drest. He walked toward Drest who was already planning his retreat. But he couldn't do that or it would make him become more suspicious.

"Forgive me, Soujirou-dono. I was…uhm…lost." He decided to use that as his excuse.

"Oh, really?" Soujirou looked at him with a tilted head. "Well, I guess the hall is kind of confusing for newcomer, right?"

"Yes, just a bit though." Once again, he decided to go with the flow and just accepted the samurai's way of thinking.

"You can ask the other about this place later. For now, we will train together."

With the mention of the words 'train' and 'together', Drest felt a sudden fear invade his mind. He wondered inside his mind what kind of training would the immortal and powerful adventurers would he undergo with them. The question whether he will survive the training also bothered him so much.

"T-Training, Soujirou-dono?" He asked with a rather worried tone.

"Hmm? Yes, a training. You see, most of us couldn't move very well."

"Couldn't move very well?" He didn't quite get where he was going.

"You see, uhm, how do I say it?" Soujirou touched his chin and thought for a while. But that didn't take long due to a voice that broke his concentration.

"Sou-chan, don't you think an introduction would be good for starter?" It was an effeminate voice. Drest looked to the source of the voice. He was surprised to see that the one that went closer to them was none of the female participant, but instead one of the rare male in the room.

"Oh, right, right. Forgot about that." Soujirou smiled while rubbing the back of his head, showing his awkwardness at how he forgotten about that. "Thanks, Dolce."

"No problem, Sou-chan," said the man named Dolce. He was quite tall, a bit taller than Drest as he was looking at the man while raising his head slightly. His purple hair was fashioned in an odd shape that looked like a flat top tube and his robust looking body seemed a bit of an odd match. And his overly feminine voice was also another thing that made him rather strange. But from the way he talked to Soujirou, he seemed to be one of the veteran members in the guild. "Nice to meet you, Drest-san. My name is Dolce," said the tall man while putting his hand forward for a shake.

"Y-Yes, nice to meet you too, Dolce-dono," replied Drest while accepting his handshake.

"Well, well, you're just like Sou-chan said, dear." At that word, Drest felt a jolt on his spine, worried about the possibility of his cover blown right away. But along the way Drest still put on his calm face, avoiding showing them his true emotion. "Very polite. Like one of those old day gentleman." And his worries were for nothing as he realized what he meant.

"And let me introduce you to the rest of the guild. Is that okay, Sou-chan?" Dolce asked him for permission. He received a slight nod and a smile from him, giving him his permission to do just that.

After that, Dolce introduced him to the other member; Fragrant Olive, the elf druid with a long light green hair; Kawara, the female monk with a short messy reddish brown hair; Kurinon, a human cleric with long flowing blonde hair; and lastly Chika, a human swashbuckler with pink hair fashioned into a twin tail and also the smallest member on the group.

"There are more member, but we can't get them here for now." Dolce added at the end of his introduction for the group there.

"Ah, I see. My name is Drest. It is nice to meet all of you." Drest said while bowing politely to them with his right hand placed on his chest. "I hope we can work together in the future."

"Oh my, so polite and well mannered." A small compliment came from Olive, accompanied by a small giggle from the other female members.

Once again, Drest was reminded that he needed to keep his way of acting with the other. Because he acted politely at first, he needed to keep that kind of attitude when speaking with the other ones, although he would prefer to act polite even if he didn't have to keep his attitude. In his mind, acting polite like that was the right thing to do. It was his gentleman code.

"Well, if you want to work together, I guess you can start now by practicing against us." Nazuna who was sitting near Olive said that.

"Uhm, practicing?" The black haired man looked confused. Although Soujirou said that they would train together, he never really caught what he meant, and the phrase 'against us' really worried him.

"Yeah, let's practice moving our body." Kyouko said to the confused Drest. "You don't get it?"

A bit hesitated to say the truth, he almost said yes. But if he really did that, he didn't know how to explain that. So with a rather unsure looks, he shook his head.

"See, Sou-sama? I told you he wouldn't understand." Kyouko said while looking at the Guild Master who was standing near Drest.

"I see." He nodded at that. Once again in Drest mind, worries of being discovered resurfaced. But just like before, he kept his calm face on. "So, Drest-san. How is your first fight?"

"Uhm," unsure of what to say, he paused for a moment. But then he noticed the sharp stares from everyone else on the room, including from Soujirou. "Fine, I guess. But it was a bit scary."

"You don't feel out of place or anything?" The female monk, Kawara, asked him.

"Out of place?" He didn't understand the word the adventurers used, so he returned back the question with a blank face.

"I mean like your movement and balance is not what you used to. Yeah, something like that." Kawara added.

"Uhm, …I don't think so. I'm fine," said Drest while rubbing the back of his head slightly, feeling more and more confused with each question thrown at him.

"You seemed confused, Drest-san." Soujirou said while noticing that. Against that question, Drest nodded slightly.

"Drest-san, all of the other member felt that their body movement was sluggish and out of place." Hisako explained to him. She looked at him and then continued, "It was because we were dragged into this world and placed into the body which differed from out original body."

"…I see." Not knowing how to react to that, he relied shortly.

"You don't feel that at all, Drest-san?" Hisako asked again. Still with his unsure looks, he shook his head.

"I see. All of us here felt that. Even I." Soujirou added to his member's explanation.

"I'm sorry, Soujirou-dono. But…I don't feel any of that." He said honestly. He already thought that over and came to a conclusion that it was better for him to say the truth.

"Ah, I see. Probably from the effect of the amnesia you're having, right?"

"Eh? What did you mean by that?" He questioned the Guild Master's question.

"You see, Drest-san, if you went into battle or doing something simple like walking for example. If you use a taller shoe, don't you think that you will be having difficulty to walk normally?" Soujirou gave an example of what he meant.

"Walking normally? Oh, yes, yes." Drest nodded at that. "You mean you lose your sense of balance, right?"

"Correct." This time, it was Soujirou's turn to nod. "And by using a different body, we messed up our sense of balance, thus making it very difficult to move normally."

"And because I have amnesia, my lost memory that contained my habit of using my usual body gone, making it possible for me to get used to my new body faster than usual." Finally understand what he meant, Drest gave his own analysis.

"Once again, correct." Soujirou looked to Kyouko and Hisako for a second and then moved his gaze to Drest again. "They said that when they went into battle with you, they saw how you moved rather fluidly. And you didn't use any technique too. Is that right?" Soujirou asked him again.

"Uhm, yes. But it is because I don't know how to use any of them, Soujirou-dono." Drest said while waving his hand slightly.

"Ah, I see, I see. Then you could say that you've finish your first battle with your own strength, right? No technique and all?"

"Hmm, I guess….Yes, you could say that." Drest said unsurely.

"Okay, let's go with that," said Soujirou while clapping his hand once. "As one of the member of the guild who can move quite normally, I want you to spar with the other member."

"Ah, I see. Because I am one of the members that…." Drest couldn't finish his sentence as he realized what he just heard. "Could you say that again, Soujirou-dono?" He asked while raising one of his eyebrow and having cold sweat poured out of his head.

"I want you to spar, to train together with the other member. How should I present it simpler?" Soujirou folded his hands while he thought for a better word.

"We want you to do mock fight with us, Drest-san." Hisako said to him. "Isn't that right, Guild Master?"

"Ah, yes, yes. Well said, that's the word I was looking for!" Soujirou exclaimed happily at that.

"So I….will fight–"

"One of us." Soujirou cut in and finished his sentence with a smile on his face. "It is to make us become more accustomed to the way our body works in this world. And we want to fight together."

"Ah…Yes, yes…" Although he uttered word of agreement, inside his mind he was rejecting that idea altogether. What would happen if he has a match with one of those super powered and immortal adventurer? Even if he really became an adventurer, his heart and mind was still that of a normal People of The Land.

"So, let's start, shall we? How about Kawara?" Soujirou said while pointing slightly to the person in question.

"Yes, sir!" An energetic shout came from the female monk, clearly eager to have a match. "Well then, hope I can match you, Drest-san!" She flashed a smile and then quickly assumed a fighting stance in front of Drest.

"…Likewise, Kawara-dono. Likewise." The best course of action he could take at the moment was following the flow. And following the flow was not one of his favorite choices for now.


	10. Chapter 9 - Friendly Spar

**Disclaimer: Log Horizon, all of its characters, musics, and stories belongs to their own respective owner. In this case, is written by Mamare Touno, illustrated by Kazuhiro Hara and published by Enterbrain. The only things I own here is the OC named Drest. This fanfict may or may not be canon. Besides that, I've got nothing else to say. So with that, please take a seat, grab your drink, pick your snack, and have a pleasant ride (or read).  
**

* * *

**Chapter 9 "Friendly Spar"**

"Okay, here's the rule. You can kick, punch, grapple, or do any kind of move. Just don't aim to hurt your opponent…too much." That last emphasized word from Dolce made Drest felt not just worry, but also fear.

In front of him, the female monk named Kawara looked so eager for a fight. Her stance which befit of her class looked calm and efficient. Drest, on the other hand, looked a bit imbalance and full of opening. Even he knew that the difference between him and her was too far. But if what Soujirou said was true, then he had an advantage over her. That advantage was the ability to use his body fluidly and naturally. Although his opponent stance looked efficient, at close inspection he could see that her movement was rather stiff. Maybe she could get away from this relative unscathed. Relatively.

"Everyone's ready?"

"Ready!" Kawara shouted with eagerness in her voice.

"Ready!...I guess." Drest shout was less vigorous than his opponent, but he still assumed a fighting stance.

"Begin!" Dolce's shout echoed on the room, signaling the start of the match.

"HYA!" Kawara launched a fast kick to her opponent. Caught by surprise, Drest jumped back instinctively, avoiding her kick only by a thread of hair.

But her assault didn't stop there. She immediately launched another attack, this time in a shape of a side chop to his head. After barely able to avoid her first strike, Drest wasn't able to move as easy as before. With his unstable position, he could only block her attack.

"Ugh!" The impact that was made from her attack made him flinch as the simple attack contained quite some force. Noticing that she was about to deliver yet another blow, Drest jumped backward, gaining some distance from her.

"Not bad, not bad at all," said Soujirou while nodding. He looked at the mock battle between them seriously, trying to learn from their move.

"Souji, you're really enjoying this, aren't you?" Nazuna asked the excited looking boy.

"Of course I am! Just look at them!" He pointed at the two fighters. "At first, Kawara moved sluggishly, although quite accurate. But now she was able to move much better than before." He commented with joy in his tone.

"And Drest, just as the two of them said, fight as fast as we thought, fitting of his class."

"Exactly!" He exclaimed once again with joy in his tone. "Okay, I want to fight him next!"

"Oh no you don't! Remember the goal of this exercise, Souji!" She reprimanded him quickly.

"The goal?" He looked at her with a confused look for a few seconds before he changed his expression. "Ah, yes, yes. Sorry about that, I forgot." He gave an awkward smile while rubbing the back of his head.

"Geez, how can you forget about that, Souji?"

"I know, I know. It's just that, he fight as if that body is his all along." Soujirou said while returning his attention to the fight.

"That must be because of his amnesia, right? Because of the memories he lost, he gained an easier way to understand his current body." Nazuna gave her thought while joining her friend in observing the match.

"True, true," said the samurai while nodding his head. "I want to fight together with him on the field next time. I want to see his full capability."

"And the other?"

"Well, let's just make one big group and fight a bigger monster, right? Just like usual." The samurai boy just said that with a nonchalant attitude, clearly too excited to think of anything else.

At that, Nazuna sighed while shaking her head. She thought to herself, "It's hard to talk with him when he's too excited."

While the two of them chat, those on the stage were fighting furiously, although the reason for them to fight that way differed one from each other. While Kawara was fighting to her heart content mostly because of her competitive nature and also her thought to show off a little to her Guild Master, Drest was fighting just for the sake of not being beaten to a pulp by the overeager Kawara.

For the majority of the fight, Drest was only able to perform defensive movement. If he was not dodging her strike, he was blocking hers. For him, that was what his mind told him as the best decision. Speaking in level wise, the two of them was at the same level. In class wise, both Drest and Kawara excelled greatly in their attack. But as a monk, Kawara had a slight advantage in the defense side. In conclusion, their fight was supposed to be an even match, far from the one-sided match that happened at the guild at the moment.

"Come on, Drest-san!" Kawara shouted as she launched herself forward to do another attack.

Preparing himself for another defensive maneuver, he put his foot forward firmly and then crossed his hand to block the strike.

"HAAA!" A straight punch was delivered by her.

"Ugh!" The strike landed full force to his hands while making a small sound, an evidence of how hard her punch was. But even with sore hands Drest kept focusing on the fight, anticipating for another attack following the previous one.

"Take this!" And just as he predicted, another strike was made, this time in the shape of a sharp kick.

Judging that blocking it would be too much for his hands, he opted to dodge it just like before. As the kick was delivered, he hopped back to distanced himself. While feeling that he succeeded in dodging that, a smile appeared on her face. Unknown what that smile supposed to mean, he felt something was not going to be according to his plan.

Unknown to him, Kawara expected him to do that movement. To counter his slick dodging movement, Kawara devised a simple plan inside her head. The brown haired monk already prepared to do a following attack after her last kick. With one of her feet still on the air, she turned her body swiftly while propelling forward slightly. As she did that, her other leg move forward and she performed a scythe kick toward her opponent.

"What the!?" Surprised by the following attack, he instinctively ducked to avoid the slashing kick while his hand acted as a support to his body. Barely able to avoid the kick, he could feel the air moved at a high speed near his head. But in the back of his head, Drest could feel that the danger was still there.

And just as he predicted, Kawara did prepared another attack. Landing with her hand, she pulled her legs to do another attack. She turned her body toward Drest and swung her leg forward to sweep toward his head.

Already forced to a very disadvantageous position earlier, Drest was running out of option. He raked his head for any way out of the very dangerous situation. He knew that being hit with that attack was anything but pleasant. Although he will not be killed by such an attack, he will not risk his body and his life.

With only attacking back as his only option, he jumped forward with his knee swung to receive the attack. The impact was made accompanied with a loud sound. The two had hit smashed their knee together and was blown backward slightly by the force.

"T-That…r-realy hurt!" Kawara shouted. Both Drest and Kawara were forced to their knee, rubbing their leg to ease their pain.

"…Ow, ow, …" Drest was also not in a better condition than her. Holding back the tear that was going to come out due to the pain, he realized once again how dangerous these adventurers were.

"Okay, now that's 2 hit for Kawara and no hit for Drest!" Dolce who was refereeing the match announced the current result.

"OOOHH! Wow! Great!" Soujirou exclaimed with happened after seeing the two gave an intense match. "UOOO! So cool!" He continued to cheer on them with clear evidence of excitement on his voice while clapping his hand. The other member was too captivated by the fight to give any reaction, only able to look at the fighter with amazed look on their face.

"Drest-san, you have to attack to or this will not be a fair fight and we will not be able to train ourselves." Dolce reminded the black haired swashbuckler of the previous aim of the fight.

"Y-Yes, understood, Dolce-dono," said Drest while trying to lift his body upward to resumed his stance. He looked forward to see that his opponent was also struggling to do the same.

(I must fight back.)

With that thought in his mind, the same phrase he heard on the battlefield rung inside him again.

_"Feel, don't think."_

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Regulating his breath, he could feel calmness slowly returned to his mind, making him easier to focus on the task at hand.

"Oh, his feel changed," Nazuna said with a quiet voice only possible to her to hear. She looked to her friend, the samurai boy, and noticed that he seemed to have the same opinion as her as his eyes looked to be much more excited than before.

Drest let out his breath and opened his eyes, facing his opponent with a much more focused mind.

"Hehe, getting serious now, aren't we?" Kawara said to him with an amused tone.

"Yes, please be prepare, Kawara-dono." Drest said with a calm but firm tone.

"Good, good. I guess I will." A short reply came from the female monk with a small grin appeared once again on her face.

"Ready!" Dolce's voice filled the hall. "Go!"

This time, Drest was the first one to launch his body forward. Realizing that, Kawara also did the same.

She aimed at his head again. A quick side chop was delivered to him.

(Hit!)

She exclaimed inside her head as the chop was only a few millimeter from his head.

"Eh!?" But the situation that followed after that surprised her. The attack hit his head but she felt nothing. She then realized that it was just an afterimage.

Suddenly her mind screamed that danger was approaching from her back. She quickly rolled forward to avoid any attack, not even trying to look what kind of danger was behind her. While doing that, she felt the air moved near her head. For a split second she looked at the image of her opponent doing the same attack from behind her. Quickly standing up and turned around to face him, she found no one was there. Startled by that fact, a warning came from her mind again. Deeming that avoiding the attack was near impossible this time, she turned back while slamming her elbow backward to whatever attack that was going to hit her.

Her elbow managed to make an impact. But contrary to being relieved, she knew that something was wrong. She felt that her elbow was still moving although an impact was already made.

She looked at the culprit and saw that her elbow was captured by her opponent.

Instead of launching another attack, Drest waited for the right moment to counter her attack. And his chance came when she delivered that elbow blow to him who was waiting behind her. Drest caught her arm with one of his hand and the push her back. With the momentum of her attack still going added with the loss of stability courtesy of Drest, Kawara's body was flipped and propelled into the air.

"GUWAAHH!" She hit the floor back first with a loud thumping sound. The wave of that fall could be felt by the whole member of the guild currently present on the hall. In a split second, the air on her body was pushed out because of the heavy fall, making her paralyzed for the moment and rendered her silent.

The whole hall became silent as everyone was trying to process what just happened.

The first one that was able to break out of the shock was Dolce. He immediately raised his hand and then declared with a loud voice "Winner, Drest!"


	11. Chapter 10 - The Match Continues

**Disclaimer: Log Horizon, all of its characters, musics, and stories belongs to their own respective owner. In this case, is written by Mamare Touno, illustrated by Kazuhiro Hara and published by Enterbrain. The only things I own here is the OC named Drest. This fanfict may or may not be canon. Besides that, I've got nothing else to say. So with that, please take a seat, grab your drink, pick your snack, and have a pleasant ride (or read).  
**

* * *

**Chapter 10 "The Match Continues"**

Drest breathe out slowly, releasing his tenseness from his whole body. Moving his shoulder that he used not long ago to flip his opponent, he made a cracking sound that came from his joint. After a while, he quickly walked toward his opponent.

Still in a shock, Kawara didn't move an inch from her last position. With her back made impact first, she was still unable to do anything besides laid there in silence, trying to digest what had happened to her.

"Are you hurt, Kawara-dono?" Drest's voice was the one that broke her shock and pulled her back to the present. With his hand put forward, Drest looked at Kawara with a rather worried expression. At that, Kawara flashed a smile.

"Nope, fine as I ever be." She grabbed his hand and then stood up with his help. "Although a bit sore on the back, I'm fine, Drest-san." She dusted her clothes as she faced him again.

"Ah, I see. That's good to hear, Kawara-dono." Drest said with a tone full of relieve.

"You know, even Master didn't throw me that hard." She grinned at him.

"R-Really?" He didn't know that. He didn't even know that they have already started fighting before he got there, although he already had a hunch.

"Ah, but don't feel guilty and all, you know? It just showed that you took the match seriously," said the female monk to him. She then took a distance from him and then gave a bow. "Thank you for the match!"

"E-Eh? Y-Yes." He returned the bow with one of his own. "Thank you for the match!"

"Well, well, your move there was quite something, dear." Dolce walked near the two fighters, looking satisfied at the result of the match. "Drest-san, you're quite scary when you get serious, you know?" The tall man patted his shoulder slightly.

"Is that so? I…didn't know." He said that with an awkward smile on his face.

"Ah, sorry, did I touch a sensitive subject?" He replied to him as he noticed his expression.

"No, no. Don't worry. It's just that I don't have the memory of anything like that with the amnesia and all." He tried to give a smile, but it turned out to be much too forced as they looked somewhat worried after seeing his smile.

"Oh, yes, yes." Dolce nodded while crossing his arm. He then put his left hand on top of his shoulder and continued, "Don't worry, Drest-san. We're here with you all the way!" He gave him a thumb up with the other hand.

"You bet we are!" Kawara added with her own cheerful tone.

Looking at the two reactions, Drest couldn't help but smile at them. He felt somehow that this guild was a filled with strong people, both in for their body and their heart. They were strong enough to even care for a stranger like him. He felt quite fortunate to encounter them.

"Well, now that you've lost," Dolce said while looking at Kawara, which earned him a sour look and a little pout from her, he then continued. "We will have the next match."

"Oh, me! Me!" A hand was raised from the spectator. All eyes shifted to that.

"Oh, Kyouko it is then!" Dolce said as he announced his next opponent. Having already experienced her way of fighting, Drest was having mixed feeling. At one hand he already knew her way of fighting, making him much easier to predict her movement. On the other hand, Kyouko's way of fighting was quite brutal, befitting of her guardian class. She would just rush on and proceed to pummel her opponent. Although that was done with the intention to kill, he just couldn't get that worry away from his mind.

"Next match, Kyouko versus Drest!" Dolce announced the match again when Kyouko has walked to the stage while Kawara sat down with the rest of the member.

"Don't go easy on me, Drest-san!" Kyouko said with her usual cheerful voice.

"Yes, will do, Kyouko-dono." He replied to her.

(Although I can't say the same to her.)

With that in his mind, he decided not to say anything more.

"Ready?" Dolce asked the two fighters.

"Ready!" The two of them shouted in unison.

"Begin!" Dolce announced the start of the match while swinging his hand down.

"HYAAAHHH!" Kyouko gave a shout as she charged forward toward her opponent. Half expecting that coming from her, he kept his calm and moved out of her course slightly to the left. He raised his arm slightly to perform another throw using her momentum.

"What the!?" But to his surprise, she tried to hook his neck with her right arm. He ducked just in time, barely able to avoid that tackling attack from her. But with his plan disturbed, he needed to make another move.

"Gotcha!" She shouted as she performed a round house kick toward him. This time he was unable to move away because she managed to do that in a split second. He blocked that with his arms crossed.

"Ugh!" The impact landed quite heavily and Drest was forced to move backward due to that force. Not leaving him any time to react, she charged toward him again. By the time he realized her attack, she was already a few inches away from him. With no way out, he let his instinct took over his action. He placed his hand on her shoulder and then he jumped over her using her shoulder as a support for his jump.

"Oh wow!" The first one that exclaimed amazement was none other than the Guild Master. He looked at his move with excitement visible on his eyes.

"He's really good." Kawara commented with a low tone and a grin on her face.

Ignoring any comment, Drest quickly placed himself to the attacking stance. This time he planned to use the same move he used against Kawara. He readied his stance and then waited for her to attack.

Noticing that her opponent already switched to an attacking pose, Kyouko became cautious. She circled him with caution while looking for a gap for her to attack. But she couldn't see any gap in his defense. One wrong move and she will likely be defeated like her friend, Kawara. This fact actually made her excited instead of scared.

Drest looked at her with the same cautious look as her. He noticed that she was trying to exploit his gap as she was circling him. After waiting for a few seconds, all she did was circling him. With no sign of her attacking, Drest judged that his plan to use the same move was already read by Kyouko. He switched tactic again.

He couldn't find ant gap in her defense that he could use. If he waited any longer, she might found a gap in his stance. He was at a dead end again.

_"Feel, don't think."_

Once again, the words rung on his head. Reminded of that, he relaxed his stance as he breathed out slowly. He brought his entire body lower and then concentrated on the flow of the battle.

Seeing a change on him, Kyouko perceived that as a gap in his stance. She put her foot behind her and then she pushed forward, charging at him again.

Everyone on the room expected him to do the usual dodging move, but they were surprised by the way he reacted. Instead of moving away, Drest moved directly at her with even faster speed.

In a split second, he was already nearing her, startling her. Fearing a direct impact because of that, she immediately pulled back.

But Drest kept on charging ahead toward her. Unable to evade, she tried to punch him with a straight jab. To her surprise, he didn't evade that blow but instead parried it aside and caught her hand while still nearing her. With her hand caught by the black haired man, she was too shock to do anything. Using that as his cue, he put his counter action while still holding her hand with one hand. His forearm was placed onto her neck and he used that as a point to throw her balance off.

"GAAAHHH!" Her scream and the sound of impact filled the hall as her back met the dojo floor. A little shockwave was made from that fall. And just like the match with Kawara, the spectators were unable to give any reaction instantly.

Dolce, just like before, was also the one that recovered from the shock first.

"Winner, Drest!"

The final result of the match was announced with Drest finally pinned Kyouko on the floor with one hand gripping her hand while his other hand was placed on top of her neck.

Hearing the result, Drest quickly got up and readjusted his breathing. After he had finally calmed down, he looked at his opponent who was still lying on the floor with an expression of confusion. Her eyes were directed at the ceiling staring at absolutely nothing. Seeing that, he reached out his hand toward her.

"Are you hurt, Kyouko-dono?"

He could see that consciousness started to gather in her eyes and she turned around to the source of the voice. "No, I'm fine," said Kyouko while grabbing onto his hand and pulled that as a support for her to stand up.

"You don't seem to be fine, Kyouko-dono," he said as she lacked her usual vigor.

"No, don't mind it. I was just a little taken aback at the fact that I was defeated so fast." She gave a sigh after saying that.

"Oh, is that so?"

"Yes, that is so. And as a guardian that is supposed to be tanking for everyone else," she looked to the other member and once again gave a rather heavy sigh, "I felt rather pathetic, you know?"

"Hmm, I don't think that you need to think that hard." Drest said while touching his chin, trying to look for better word he could gave her. "Besides, your move was rather strong, I could at least verify that."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. The reason I tackle you like that is also because I can't take much more of your blow or my chance of winning decreased into next to nothing."

"You're exaggerating, Drest-san."

"Oh no, no, absolutely not. If I fight you in a normal condition, I'll probably lose," said Drest while waving his hand to her. "Not to mention that Kyouko-dono is a guardian. You have a wide array of skill that you can use to tank for the other."

"Ah yes, I didn't use any skill back then, didn't I?"

"Yes, yes. So please have more confidence in yourself. You already proved your power back at when we fight the goblins, right?" He said with a smile on his face, clearly showing his honest opinion toward the female guardian potential.

Seeing that, a faint smile appeared on her face. "Then I guess next time we have to spar using our weapons and skills, right?"

"Err, if you want to, Kyouko-dono." He said rather unsurely, afraid of facing her in a real battle.

"Oh come on! Where's your spirit, Drest-san?" she said to him while punching him playfully on his arm, which made Drest winched a bit.

"Well, who's next?" Dolce said to the spectator.

"How about me?" A girl raised her arm. It was the blonde samurai, Isami. Realizing that his opponent was him, Drest felt a bit more worry than when about to face Kyouko or Kawara. Among all of the members he knew, she gave out a particularly different feeling. The reason was her statement she gave when he was about to join the guild.

_"I am actually afraid to fight. I've never fight in my whole life."_

That was not a lie. Her tone was serious and honest. Drest knew that.

_"And…I failed to do just that not long ago."_

It was a confession of her failure. But on her eyes was a glint of fire that showed her resolution to overcome that failure of hers. Drest was afraid that she would hurt herself in the process because of being blinded by that resolution of hers. With that fact in his head, he felt that she might use all of her ability in this mock fight and resulting in either hurting herself or her opponent– in this case is Drest.

But he had no way to reject the fight. It was his duty of a fellow member to give them enough real experience using their newly acquired body.

"Okay, Isami-san it is then!" Dolce said while clapping his hand twice, signaling that the next match will start soon. While the two fighters faced each other, Kyouko returned to her seat.

"Please don't hold back, Drest-san." She bowed to him.

"I won't, Isami-dono." He replied that with a bow of his own.

"Ready?" Dolce asked the two fighters. They both nodded while taking their stance. "Begin!"

Unlike the matches before, Drest was the one that initiated the first move. He charged forward while keeping his own body as low as possible. When he was only a few inches from her, he swiped her leg.

Trusting her reflex to make the decision, Isami jumped, avoiding his attack. With his first attack failed, Drest continued onto his next move and charged with his shoulder.

Isami managed to avoid that attack by jumping to her side. After avoiding two consecutive attacks, the two now faced each other again.

Refused to waste any more time, Drest charged forward again, this time with intention of delivering a combo of punch. Aware of his movement due to his stance, Isami prepared to defend herself.

Drest gave out the first punch which was aimed directly at her head. It was parried effortlessly by Isami.

The next strike was an elbow blow, which was also deflected by Isami to the side. With his two attacks failed, his third was launched in an instant with the added momentum of the deflection of the second attack. Isami ducked and counter with a kick aimed at his side. Fortunately for Drest, he managed to block that attack and throw her feet, making her slightly unbalanced.

Seeing that as a chance, he rushed forward again and continued his assault. Blow after blow came toward Isami who was only able to defend herself while countering his attack with a simple attack every now and then. The primary difference of the current battle with the ones before was that Drest was holding his role as an attacker as he continuously performing attack after attack. Another difference was that the two of them fight in silence, unlike the two matches before which had plenty of shout and battle cry. It was as if the two of them forgot how to make a sound because they were too busy focusing on the fight.

"Isn't Drest-san being much more aggressive than before?" Hisako whispered to Kyouko who sat near her.

"Yes, it is a bit…scary. Don't you think?" Kyouko said while wearing a rather worried face.

"Uhm, when you say it that way," Hisako paused a while and then shifted her sight at the fight in front of her. She looked at the black haired swashbuckler way of fight and continued her sentences. "He really is a bit scary right now."

Drest who usually looked calm now seemed to have nothing on his mind except fighting. With a cold and emotionless face, his move and his blow had become much sharper and much more difficult to be evaded.

Isami find it more and more difficult in trying to match his move. Fortunately, the body of an adventurer was much more accustomed to a fight than she thought, making it possible for her to dodge and evade his attack. But she knew inside her mind that it was just a matter of time that she would lose her concentration and his blow will hit her hard.

Just like Drest who kept his mouth shut from the start of the battle, Isami also did the same. But she knew her reason of not making a single sound from the start until that moment. It was fear.

It was her first time having a match with the new member of the guild. Although already witnessing two fights, she knew nothing of the black haired man style of fighting. It was very erratic and difficult to be predicted, not to mention sharp and precise. It was as if she was fighting a veteran fighter, not a fellow player who was trapped in an unknown world like her.

Unlike Isami who was thinking quite a lot, Drest completely left the idea of thinking and purely depended on his feeling. Just like that, his instinct kicked in and he immediately went into battle mode. His move, fluid and sharp, was beyond what he expected at first. The more he trusted his feeling, the sharper and deadlier his moves became.

"Ugh!" His hit made impact with Isami's small forearm. Because of that voice, Drest noticed something on her arm. Some parts of it had changed color to a purplish blue. Her arms were getting bruised by Drest's constant attack. Although she managed to avoid most of his attack, from time to time she was only able to block it using her arm.

_"Ouch! Nice move, *****-nichan!"_

(Huh!? What was that!?)

A single voice rung inside his mind and broke his concentration. As he pondered the source of that voice, he realized the error he made.

"Argh!" A wave of searing pain invaded his mind, making him unable to focus on the fight. But due to his decision of leaving it all to his instinct, his blow still continued, although they slowed down.

Noticing a change in her opponent's pace, Isami quickly evaded one of his blows, caught his arm, and put all of her weight on that arm to swing her opponent.

Unable to react because of the searing pain inside his head and also being caught in a surprise like that, Drest couldn't keep his balance and he was flung to the air. As his body was on the air, the pain kept coming into his head.

"GGARRRGGHHH!" The sound of his cry and also a loud slamming sound were made the moment his body slammed to the floor just like what Kawara experienced a few moments ago. But since his body was slightly bigger, the sound that was made was a bit louder. In a second, all of the wind inside his lung was forced out. The pain combination from the strange searing one inside his head and the one on his back was a bit too much for him that he was unable to open his eyes. He could only hear Dolce announced that the winner was Isami and also a loud cheering from the other member.

"Are you okay, Drest-san?" Even if he couldn't see at the moment, he knew that it was Soujirou's voice.

"F-Fine…." He struggled to let that word out. "I…hope."

"You're hurt?" Soujirou said with a worry visible on his face.

"…."Still trying to bear the searing pain, he could only shook his head a little. But that made the samurai looked worried more.

"Director?" Isami who was still trying to regain her breath walked near him.

"It's Drest." Soujirou said shortly while crouching down near Drest.

"W-What happened? Oh no." Isami's face darkened as she realized the possibility. "D-Did I hurt him?" She also crouched down near him.

"N-No, don't worry, I-Isami-dono." Drest said between the pulsing waves of pain inside his head. "J-Just…wait…" He requested with a barely audible voice.

For a few seconds, the two of them waited for him to do anything. This made the other member gathered near them too.

"Ah, finally." Feeling that the pain inside his head had subsided to a tolerable level, Drest opened his eyes.

"You okay, Drest-san?" Nazuna asked him.

"Much better now, Nazuna-dono." After saying that, he pushed his body upward into a sitting position. "Sorry for that, everyone." He said while bowing slightly.

"Are you really okay?" Isami asked him, worried that she might have hurt him.

"Ah, Isami-dono, please don't worry. Nice throw by the way." He flashed a smile while saying that. "Oh yes, could you please show me your arm."

"Huh? My arm?" Isami didn't understand why he asked that, but he still showed them to him. The bruises had gone and the color of her skin had almost gone back to normal.

At that, Drest let out a breath of relieve. "Oh, thank goodness you're okay."

"Eh? What happened?"

"It's your memory, isn't it?" Nazuna said without letting him answer Isami's question.

"His memory?" Soujirou asked with a confused look. But seconds later, his face changed, showing that he understood what she meant. All of the other members that had heard of his condition realized that and also shared the same expression with their guild master.

"So the reason you–"

"Yes, Isami-dono," said Drest while nodding slightly. "I lost my focus temporarily because my head hurt all of a sudden. It is because I was trying to search my memory." He rubbed the back of his head with an awkward smile on his face.

"And the trigger was me?" Isami asked while pointing to herself. At that Drest nodded. "Why?"

"I…honestly don't know. The bruises on your arm, they…reminded me of something." Drest said while trying not to think about it.

"Hey, don't you think that we might be able to help him gain his memories?" Olive who was silence all this time gave out her opinion.

"Oh, yes, yes. Nice one, Olive-chan." Dolce praised her. "So if we make Drest-san experience something related to his life, he might have his memory back, right?"

"Oh, that's a good idea!" Soujirou shouted in joy at the prospect of helping his comrade getting his memory. "Then all he has to do is spend his time with a lot of people, right?"

"Yes, Sou-chan, you're correct." Dolce nodded with a smile on his face.

"Then as a fellow guild member, let's help him too!" Soujirou announced his request to the whole member of the guild.

With the guild master's announcement, most of the member started to murmur to themselves. They were intrigued by the possibility of helping their newest member. But some of them still a bit terrified by their newest member show of strength and fighting capability.

Drest ignored all of them except the fact that he might regain his memory by interacting with others. If others were not limited to the adventurer then a certain person popped inside his mind.

He then looked to the far corner of the dojo to a single person, a girl with a short black hair wearing the outfit with the purpose of making her work easier. Her occupation is a housekeeper. It was none other than the girl she met sometimes ago who brought him the dougi, the People of The Land employed by the guild, Sara.


	12. Omake 2

**Omake 2**

On the porch that had the view of the whole Akiba city, the wind was blowing gently and the sound of the hanging bell put on top of the low ceiling was very soothing and relaxing. The light that came from the setting sun gave the room a nice atmosphere.

While the other members were either resting or preparing their equipment for the next day, three members of the guild sat there with a serious face.

"So, how is it then, Drest-san?" The first speaker, a boy with a relatively handsome face, asked the black haired member of the guild.

"Yes, tell us what you think about their way of fighting." The second speaker, a woman with a rather complicated outfit and a pair of fox ears on her head, also asked the same.

"Hmm, let's see." Drest put his hand on his chin. "Kawara-dono's way of fighting was quite sharp and powerful, although she tends to rely on her instinct too much, making her move easy to be predicted."

"And Kyouko-san?"

"Kyouko-dono's was very straight forward, focusing more on charging ahead and then continues to do that over and over again. Quite effective, although it made her possible to be ambushed quite easily if not careful."

"And Isami-san?"

"Isami-dono was…err…" He suddenly went quiet.

"What is it?" Nazuna who noticed that became curious.

"Isami-dono's way of fighting relied too much on her way of thinking. In contrast to the two, she took too much time thinking, therefore making her movement rather slow, but still powerful nonetheless."

"Quiet a thorough analysis there, Drest-san." Soujirou looked quite satisfied with his answer.

"Well, when you fight against someone, it is just something that you would pick up eventually."

"So which one of them has the most painful blow?" Nazuna asked with a smirk on her face.

"All of them, Nazuna-dono. All of them." Drest immediately said that with emphasizing each word.

At that, the two veteran players laughed rather loudly while Drest could only gave a smile.

"I guess we can ask you to train them again later then, eh, Drest-san?" Hearing that statement from Nazuna made Drest felt cold sweat pouring from his head.

"Very well then, Nazuna-dono." He said rather hesitatingly as he couldn't find any way of declining that request.

"Ah, good! Very good!" Soujirou said with a happy tone while clapping his hand.

"Master!" A voice came from the door as it slid open.

"Oh Kawara-san, what is it?" Soujirou stood up and went to her side, leaving Drest with Nazuna.

"Drest-san, tell me something."

"Yes, what is it, Nazuna-dono?"

"Is there a similarity from their way of fighting?" Being asked such a question, Drest closed his eyes and thought for a while. It was not long as a single word appeared inside his mind.

"There is, Nazuna-dono." He said as he opened his eyes.

"What is it?"

He looked to the view of the whole city. The warm light of the twilight bathed the city and also the whole room with a warm and gentle feeling. But the word inside his mind was anything but warm. It was cold and very disturbing. As he opened his mouth, he said the word with firm tone.

"It is 'fear'."

* * *

**[Episode II : Fighting with The Adventurers - End]**

**This is the end of the 2nd episode. Thank you for reading so far and sorry for the late update and I hope I can see you all again in the 3rd episode.**


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